The Ultimate School Duels
by Mr.Evil
Summary: It is just a few weeks after the beginning of the second year, and a worldwide school tournament is about to begin, but some of the students are using this chance for their own gain. Will Duel Academy survive? Might have Alexis Jaden later
1. The Ultimate School Duels

Chapter 1: The Ultimate School Duels

A few weeks after the beginning of a new school year at Duel Academy, we see ships, helicopters, and even submarines heading towards the Grand Island from all around.

But in class, all is the same as the teacher is going over a counter-trap assignment and like usual, Jaden is fast asleep with the old fake glasses trick.

But then, the vibrations from all of the ships shook the classroom, causing our laidback hero to wake up. "What's going on?"

"Jaden, don't you remember?" Syrus asked.

"Well, no, not really. Are we getting new rare cards?"

Syrus shook his head in disbelief. "The students from all of the other schools are coming today for the Ultimate School Duel.

"Oh sweet, that's today?"

"You would know that if you helped with setting up with the decorations."

"Sorry, Sy, I had major cramming to do."

"You mean sleeping in."

"I duel when I sleep, so it's the same."

Then on the screen behind the teacher, Chancellor Shepard appeared. "As you can all tell by the shaking, the other duelists have arrived from different schools all over the world. I want everyone to report to the auditorium at once."

"We have an auditorium?" Jaden asked.

"You would know that if you helped out."

* * *

As the auditorium was packed up, Crowler was standing in the middle where six other group of teens all wearing Obelisk uniforms except for North Academy from all other schools were sitting behind him.

"Now we are about to host the Largest School Duel since the history of this academy and any others, it is so large that it will take weeks maybe even months to complete so the students behind me will be joining our academic studies along side you during this tournament. And even though you see so many students behind me, only two from each group has been chosen to represent their schools. Now let us start from the right of me and introduce the schools that will be in this match."

He pointed to the group of five and said. "From AD Tech Duel Academy, the top two students from that group, Fredi Heat and Kristen Judo, as the rest are Jack Cephas, Michael Barak, and Jamie Dagda."

Then Crowler points to the next group of five. "This team has come from Vlad Duel Academy, and the top students in this group is," then he looked at the cards, "you were supposed to put your real names down."

"These are the names we prefer." Bloodlust said.

"Very well then, they are Bloodlust and Sword Hunter, as the rest are TNT, Shadow, and Virus."

The next group he points two only has two. "From Duel City Academy, David Sepulcher and Edgar Knight."

Then he points to the next group who is only person. "From the school we all know, North Academy only sent over Czar."

"Then from Klein Duel Academy, the two students are Dawn Knight and Nicole Smalls as the rest are Bobby Smith, William Sebastian, and Nicole Peeacee."

Crowler pointed to the last group of five. "And last but not least, the two students from Underwater Duel Academy, strange they didn't write their real names either, well the two Twister and Reality, and the rest are Poker, Backfire, and Destruere."

Everyone in the stadium applauded as Crowler added. "Oh wait, I haven't announced the best two of them all, our students! And the two that will be entered into this memorable event is Chazz Princeton and Jaden someone."

The two boys stood up from the audience as the lights shinned down on them. "Yes, I am the Chazz. Now let's hear it for a, Chazz it up!"

"CHAZZ IT UP!" the school cried out as Jaden was applauding himself.

"Oh yeah, now this is going to be sweet!"

"The first Duel will start tomorrow children. And after that, let's have a grand year at Duel Academy..." Crowler said as he then felt taps on his shoulder.

He turned to see Sword Hunter, whose Obelisk uniform has been cut to show off more than usual for a female uniform. "Miss., could I use that microphone real quick?"

Crowler grinded his teeth and yelled. "I am a sir little missy that has a PhD in dueling, because of that you are to call me Dr., Dr. Crowler!"

"Alright, don't get your pantyhose in a bunch, but I would like to say something to all these duelist."

"Why you little..." Crowler said as she was able to take the microphone and say.

"Hey all you hot studs out there, I'm a girl who will accept any and all challenges, oh and if you are able to beat me, I will give only to the first victor, a kiss."

Just after she said that, all of the boys in the audience were requesting to duel here, leaving some girls and girlfriends of the boys to be a bit ticked off. "Oh please, you're all making me blush."

"She's doing it again, Bloodlust," Shadow commented.

"Yes, but they don't know what happens if they lose to her."

Then Edgar Knight ran up to her. "How about you will marry me if I win?"

"Sorry, Edgar, I'm still to shy to date."

"Then how about a duel right here and now?"

"That sounds like an excellent idea Edgar," Sheppard replied from the booth he is in. "You will face off against Sword Hunter in tomorrows match for the opening."

"Oh, how lucky for you, just hope you are good enough. I really don't like amateurs; you got to know what you're doing."

Edgar was in a daze as he snapped out of it. "Sure, no problem."

"Then it is settled, tomorrow's match will be against Vlad Duel Academy's Sword Hunter and Duel City Academy's Edgar Knight. I hope for a great match because each duelist can only lose twice before he or she is disqualified for the rest of the tournament."

Everyone was a bit shocked from this information as David said to himself. "What has he gotten himself into now?"

"Do well everyone," Sheppard said, "and I hope for all of our guest that you are comfortable at your temporary home away from home."

To Be Continued

The biggest school dueling tournament is about to begin. Not planning on updating without reviews.


	2. After the Ceremony

Chapter 2: After the Ceremony

Everyone exited the auditorium and all that was on everyone's mind was the large tournament that was about to take place. Even rumors of these duels being on Prime Time television flooded the school faster than if a tidal wave hit the place.

"This tournament is going to be sweet," Jaden said in his normal care-free tone of voice as Syrus was not as confident as our Elemental Hero duelist.

"But Jaden, you are going up against the best of the best, the top students from all around the world!"

"Like I said before, Sy; this tournament is going to be sweet!"

"Syrus is right, Jaden," said Alexis, adding her two cents, "who knows how strong or what kind of combinations all these students use. Also you are the only student in the tournament that isn't an Obelisk."

"I still don't see your point," Jaden replied befuddly as Bastian came up.

"What they mean, Jaden. Is that the chances of you winning this tournament 5,621 to 1."

"Hey, you're talking to the boy who saved the world last year; I can take these guys on, no sweat."

"That over confidence will just make it worse," Syrus whispered to the others as they nodded their heads.

"Don't worry; if the Slacker can't handle the pressure, you all know the Chazz will easily come out victorious," Chazz said.

"That's right boss," Chazz's annoying Ojama partner said as he floated by his head, "you will wipe the floor with your great dueling skills."

"Leave me alone!"

Just then, the students from Vlad Duel Academy walked by, and as soon as their leader Bloodlust walked by, Winged Kuriboh appeared in front of Jaden with it's hairs on end and growling at the student. "Kuriboh, what's wrong?"

The student looked right at the Kuriboh with a grin on his face, a grin so cold that it caused the fluff ball to hide right behind Jaden, shriveling in fear.

"Hey team, I want to have a chat with our competition, meet you later in the lunch room," Sword Hunter said in a cheery tone as Shadow just replied.

"Just don't screw anything up."

Sword Hunter stuck her tongue out at the teen as the group walked off. She turned her attention back to our heroes. Her long bare and perfectly tanned legs strutted towards them as all the boys around her had heart shaped eyes, including our heroes.

"Is this, what true beauty is?" Bastian asked.

"She is the girl of my dreams," Chazz added.

"She is so hot," Syrus exclaimed.

"Come on Syrus, you don't want to make Dark Magician Girl jealous, do you?" Jaden asked as Syrus snapped out of it and looked around the room.

"Why? Is she here?"

"Jaden, why aren't you affected by Sword Hunter like everyone else that is here?" Alexis asked.

"Why should I be?" Jaden asked back with a confused look on his face.

Sword Hunter stood before them and said to the group in a seductive tone. "Oh what a fine pick of duelist here, I bet you are all very strong, especially where it counts."

The boys all nodded their heads except for Jaden as he just said enthusiastically. "You bet!"

"Huh, I see that you are only a Ra, how did you get in this tournament?" Sword Hunter asked.

"Because Slacker might be a good duelist, but he is a horrible student," Chazz said as he approached her. "But if you want a real challenge, you should duel me."

Sword Hunter just giggled. "Oh you're full of energy aren't you? I just hope you last long enough to duel me in the tournament," she answered then announced, "also remember all of you boys not in the tournament; who ever beats me first, gets a kiss."

All of the boys are trying to offer to duel her right then and there, but then she added. "But I won't duel today, my body is so filthy from the trip here I should take a shower first."

"NO! YOU DON'T NEED TO; YOU LOOK GREAT, SWORD HUNTER!" the boys around her cried out as she just giggled.

"Oh, you are all too kind."

_What is with this girl?_

Alexis thought as she saw Sword Hunter take an interest in her, walking around her and studying her. "Um, what are you doing?" Alexis asked nervously.

"I bet you have the boys eating out of your hands with that figure of yours."

Alexis blushed a bit from this accusation. "Well no, I mean yes. Well..."

"Just have your outfit show off more of that smooth skin of yours, and I bet any guy would duel their hearts out to be with you."

Then unconsciously, Alexis looked right at Jaden and then back at Sword Hunter. "You really think so?"

"Watch it," a dark voice called out as they all looked over to see Fredi with the rest of the team from Ad Tech Duel Academy, "don't listen to her."

"Oh Fredi, you always ruin my fun," Sword Hunter whined childishly, "but I better get going anyway, hope to talk to you all again real soon."

Sword Hunter skipped off as all the guys besides Jaden and the members of the AD Tech team collapsed with heart filled eyes.

"What did you mean by watch it," Jaden asked.

"Never trust anything that group says, they have a way of manipulating what goes on around them," he replied.

"I don't know, Sword Hunter seems to be a good friend to me," Kristen added.

"Dang, what a cutie," Michael said as he walked up Alexis, "My names Michael Barak from AD Tech Duel Academy. You want to go have lunch together, cutie?"

"I'm sorry, but no."

"Darn, shot down by another cutie."

"Isn't that like your twelfth time since we arrived on this island?" Jack asked as he laughed at his teammate.

"No, fifteenth, I stopped for a snack a while back when we passed the girl's locker room."

"Anyway, we better get something to eat, we have a new day of school and a one sided match to watch tomorrow."

"Huh, what do you mean?" Jaden asked.

"Let's just say that Edgar doesn't know what he just ran into with that cutie," Michael replied as the group walked off.

* * *

Now with the two members of Duel City Academy as they are sitting at the lunch room and David asked. "I cannot believe you acted like that in the opening of this event, Edgar."

"What's the problem, she is so freakin' hot. Don't tell me that you didn't think that way of her as well."

"That is not the point, Edgar. You are the leader of the Duel City Dragon Gang, what kind of disrespect are you showing for your gang by acting like that?"

"Come on, all mighty leader of the Gravekeeper Gang in Duel City, I think of this as vacation time, so loosen up and enjoy the scenery," Edgar replied, drinking his soda as he watched some girls walk by, "because I know I am."

"I never knew girls counted as scenery."

"They do in my book, and I would take that any day over some artwork made by some dead guy."

* * *

After dinner, Alexis walked into her room and lied down on her bed. She thought of what Sword Hunter told her and remembered that she looked right at Jaden.

_Why did I look at him when she told me that?_

The thought continued to plague her mind until she heard a knock on her door. She stood up from her bed and walked towards the door. "Who is it," she asked.

"Guess who?" a familiar voice answered as Alexis opened the door to see Sword Hunter and Virus standing in front of her.

"Guess who your new neighbors are?" Sword Hunter asked.

"Oh, hey Sword Hunter, and Virus, right?"

The taller girl with short red hair and wearing a male version of the Obelisk uniform nodded while Sword Hunter frowned. "Now is that anyway to treat your new friends and neighbors?"

"I'm sorry; I just have a few things on my mind."

Sword Hunter grinned as she added. "I see. Boy troubles I'm guessing?"

Alexis stuttered. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, in my book there are only two things that girls think about most in their free time, how they look or a secret crush, and I can see that you can not be thinking about how you look."

"Well, I am tired and want to get to bed early, so I will see you tomorrow."

"'Night then," Sword Hunter replied as the door closed and a grin appeared on the girl's face. "Oh Virus, we are going to have so much fun here."

"Yeah, sure," Virus replied, sounding distracted in her thoughts.

"What's with you Virus," Sword Hunter asked as they walked back to their room, "you haven't sounded like yourself since we got here."

Virus shook her head. "It's just been a long day; I just need some rest as well."

"I hope that's all it is," because I hope you are awake for the slaughter I'm about to do tomorrow."

To Be Continued

Well, here is a small sample the competition, hope you read and review.


	3. The start of the Tournament

Yes I will be making up cards throughout this fanfic.

Chapter 3: The start of the Tournament

Alexis stumbled out of her bed by the sound of her alarm clock. She shut it off and walked to her desk to see herself in the mirror. She saw her hair everywhere but where she wanted it and her pajamas wrinkled from her toes to her neck.

_I couldn't sleep, why is it bugging me so much?_

She thought as she grabbed the comb on her desk and pulled tightly to get the knots out.

_I don't get, why is it bothering me so much that I looked over at Jaden after Sword Hunter mentioned to me that I could have any man dueling their hearts out for me?_

She finally got out all of the knots in her hair and moved her fingers through it, feeling it between her fingers.

_It's probably nothing._

She then grabbed a blue towel hanging off her chair and put it behind her neck.

_But a shower should help.

* * *

_

After her shower, she got dressed and headed down to the breakfast hall. After she got her pancakes she looked around for an open seat until she heard a familiar voice call out to her. "Hey there, come sit with us!"

She looked over to see Sword Hunter sitting with a bunch of other girls from the tournament.

She walked over, putting her tray down and taking an open seat. "Thanks."

"You don't need to thank me, you're a friend," Sword Hunter replied as she pointed to the other girls. "As you already know my teammate Virus, these are the girls from the Underwater Duel Academy, Twister and Destruere, and the other two from Klein Duel Academy; Nicole Smalls and Dawn Knight."

"Nice to meet you," Alexis said as they all accepted.

"I can't believe you are in a Duel Academy, Destruere," Dawn said as the eight year-old girl looked at her.

"Destruere is a dueling prodigy, she was sent straight to Obelisk as soon as she arrived," Twister said as she moved back her long red hair, "but she still has a lot to learn compared to me."

"And I love to have fun, and nothing is more fun than dueling," Destruere added as Alexis giggled.

"What is so funny?" Nicole asked.

"Nothing, it's just how Destruere answered that, reminded me about Jaden Yuki. He is one of this school's duelists in the tournament."

"So was that the boy you were thinking about last night while all alone in your room?" Sword Hunter asked as Alexis nearly choked on her milk.

"No!" she nearly yelled but calmed down, "what makes you think I was thinking about a boy?"

"The redness in your face," Sword Hunter answered.

"Well, your wrong," Alexis defended as she changed the subject, "by the way, where is your other Nicole?" she asked the girls from Klein Duel Academy, "I think her last name is Peeacee."

"Well, she is also Will's assistant, so she stays with him."

"A guy and a girl in the same room," Sword Hunter thought aloud with a grin on her face, "think of the fun they could have on an exotic island as this one."

"Will's in a wheelchair for heaven sakes, Sword Hunter," Virus replied in a defensive tone causing her teammate to be a bit startled.

"Calm down, I was just having some fun," Sword Hunter replied in shock, "you have been acting strange since we got here though."

"It's nothing," Virus replied as she stood up with her empty tray, "well it was nice to meet you all, but I still have to get ready for class, I will talk to you all later."

She walked away from the group as Sword Hunter commented. "She has always been a strange one in our group, but I better get ready too, this tournament isn't a vacation until the match starts."

* * *

In the male Obelisk dorm, all the guys from the tournament Besides the ones from Duel City are sitting at the biggest table in the lunchroom as Chazz gloats. "If I was you guys, if you are picked to challenge the Chazz, I would just forfeit before I beat you miserably." 

"Can you stop talking about yourself in the third person?" Fredi asked.

"Sorry, Chazz," Czar replied, "but I need to beat you to get back my title, you being the only duelist to ever beat me at North Academy after all."

"Well, I might not be in this Tournament," but I bet I could beat you both at the same time," Michael replied.

"What did you say?" they both asked.

But the team from Vlad Duel Academy just laughed at this argument. "What do you think is so funny?" Czar asked.

"Because," TNT replied, "Bloodlust will be able to beat you all by the end of this tournament."

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked. "Fredi has beaten him before every time our schools had the school duel."

"That won't be the same this year," Bloodlust replied with a grin on his face.

"And why would that be?" Fredi asked.

"Because, I finally got it all," Bloodlust answered as the team from AD Tech Duel Academy was shocked.

"Are you insane, you have the eight card combo?" Michael asked as the grin on Bloodlust's face only grew.

"Yes, and it's thirsty for destruction."

"Eight card combo?" the rest asked.

"You will just have to see, when I get to duel."

"But can we just agree to have some impressive duels in this tournament?" Bobby asked.

""Nah," Shadow replied, "Let's just have a slaughter."

* * *

Now the only part most of you are reading this fanfic, right after school, everyone gathered in the Obelisk Duel Stadium as we see Jaden and Syrus complain. "That wasn't school; that was torture." 

"What are you guys talking about?" a voice asked as they looked behind them to see Michael and the rest of the AD Tech Duel Academy's team behind them. "We learned that stuff when we were still in Slifer. You guys are way behind in your studies."

"Then I'm glad I go here," Jaden replied with a dumfounded smile on his face.

Then he spotted Alexis walking down the steps and waved to her. She looked over and waved back with a bit of redness in her cheeks.

_What is wrong with me?_

She thought as Edgar came up to her. "You are the meaning of beauty; please grant me the pleasure of taking you out tonight?"

She stuttered from this as she asked. "Aren't you supposed to be getting ready to duel, Sword Hunter?"

"A duel can wait, because time stops when I am with you."

Once again, Alexis stutters until David came up to the two. "Excuse him; he does this at Duel City as well. He has a problem knowing when to be serious. By the way, I don't think we have been properly introduced, my name is David Sepulcher, and you are?" he asked as he held out his hand.

She put out her hand and shook his. "My name is, Alexis, Alexis Rhodes."

They broke their handshake. "Now if you will please excuse me, Miss. Rhodes. I have to drag him down to his match."

"No please, just some more time with the Beauty of Duel Academy," Edger begged as David dragged him off by the back of his coat.

"These temporary transfer students are some strange ones," then she looked back at her friends who are sitting together, "then again, I have nothing to complain about here."

She took her seat by Jaden as the lights went out and then illuminated the stage where Dr. Crowler was standing. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I now welcome you to the opening to the Ultimate School Duel!"

The crowd cheered and applauded as once it settled down, Crowler continued. "Now for the opening match: On my left from Duel City Academy, please welcome, Edgar Knight!"

The crowd cheered and applauded once again as Edgar walked out on the platform; waving to the crowd as he approached the center.

"And on my right, the other duelist all the way from Vlad Duel Academy, Sword Hunter!"

As she walked out on the stage, waving and blowing kisses to the crowd. Not only did they cheer, but the boys held up banners saying, **we love you, Sword Hunter!** Or **Duel Me, Sword Hunter!**

"You are all to kind," she replied as she winked at them and they collapsed in their seats.

Then she approached the center of the stage as Crowler announced. "Now, this is going to be a good clean match, anyone caught cheating during this match will automatically be disqualified for the rest of the Tournament. Now have your opponent shuffle your decks."

The two took their decks out of their protectors and handed it to each other. Then after shuffling, they returned them and Sword Hunter said. "Don't forget, Edgar. If you beat me you will win, a kiss from me."

His eyes turned heart-shaped as David from the audience slapped his forehead. "How he became the leader of the Dragon gang I will never know."

"Time for a slaughter," Shadow said as the Vlad students were getting ready for the carnage.

"Now, head back to your corners," Crowler instructed as the two duelist headed to their stations and then added. And, Begin!"

"Let's Duel!" they both announced as they entered their decks into their duel disks and their life points were set at 4000.

"Would a strong and talented man like yourself let a little defenseless woman like me go first?" Sword Hunter asked with pleading eyes and Edgar with a dumfounded smile nodded his head.

"Such a gentleman you are," Sword Hunter replied as she drew her sixth card and thought.

_And because of that, it will be your downfall._

"For my first move, I summon Masaki the Legendary Swordsman, in defense mode!" she said as the monster in samurai armor kneeled down before them with an 1100 defense, "and with that I end my turn."

"Well, my turn!" Edgar announced as he drew his sixth card and saw it to be a Spear Dragon. "And I summon, Spear Dragon in attack mode!"

Then the blue dragon with a spear like nose appeared on the field with 1900 attack power. "And because of it's effect, when it destroys your monster you will still lose life points! Now Spear Dragon, attack her warrior with Skydive Strike!"

The monster went into the air and then came down with tremendous force and destroyed her monster, sending her life points down to 3200.

But after that attack, all of the guys in the stadium were yelling at him. "What else could I do?" he asked as he continued with the duel. "And its other effect switches sit into defense mode after it attacked."

His dragon switched to defense mode and showed of defense of 0. "But instead, I also activate, Stop Defense, switching it back to attack mode!"

The dragon switched back to attack mode as the audience was in awe. "Brilliant play, because of that, now his dragon won't be destroyed so easily," Bastian pointed out.

"Oh such a strong monster from such a strong man," Sword Hunter said as she winked at him, causing him to be in a daze once again. "But I think I have a monster that can deal with your pet," she then drew her card and announced. "I play, The Marauding Captain in attack mode!"

Everyone was a bit shocked and stunned by this play as the monster that was summoned only had 1200 attack points.

"I don't get it, how will that be able to destroy his Spear Dragon?" Syrus asked.

"I don't think she is planning to destroy that dragon with that monster," Jamie from Ad Tech Duel Academy replied who is sitting behind him, I believe she is planning to use the monsters effect.

"Oh and as you know, by strong captain doesn't like to be summoned all alone, so with its effect I summon, Rare Metal Dragon!"

Then a large steel like Dragon appeared on the field with 2400 attack points, "I know, not really structured to my deck, but he packs quite a punch."

"Hold on, I thought Marauding Captain could only summon a four star or lower monster. With attack points like that there is no way Rare Metal Dragon could be a four star," Syrus said.

"Actually it is," Alexis's brother said from the aisle."

"Atticus, where have you been?" Alexis asked.

"Sorry, I have a lot of work to catch up on because of being absent that amount of time, but I got here as soon as I could. Then he sat down beside Syrus and replied. "The monster, Rare Metal Dragon is a four star monster, because it cannot be normal summoned or set. The only way to summon it is to special summon it which can make it a real pain at times."

"Now my dragon, attack his dragon with Rare Metal Slash!" Sword Hunter called out as her creature jumped into the air and attacked his dragon, destroying it and costing Edgar 500 life points. "And now my Captain, attack his life points directly!"

The warrior slashed the duelist, sending his life points down to 2300. "Now I play one card face down and end my turn."

The card appeared on the field as Edgar thought.

_She is not only hot, she is tuff. I better bring up my game a bit more._

"I draw," he announced as he drew his card. "I play two cards face down and summon Mirage Dragon!" he said as the unusually colored dragon with 1600 attack points appeared on the field. "Now during a battle phase, you cannot activate any trap cards."

She grinded her teeth as she then just smiled. "How talented, I like a man that knows what he is doing."

He went into a daze again until he heard David yell from the stands. "Focus! This is a duel not a date!"

Edgar shook it off. "Why can't it be the same thing?"

David shook his head in disbelief and the duel continued. "Now Mirage Dragon, attack the Captain with Illusion Blast!"

The Dragon charged up and shot an energy blast, destroying the warrior and her life points dropped down to 2700. "After that, I end my turn."

Sword Hunter drew her card and thought.

_With that dragon on the field, I can't activate my powerful trap cards. But because it only affects me during the battle phase he can still activate his trap cards._

"I activate the magic card, Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw two more cards," she announced as the pot appeared on the field and then was destroyed. "First I play the Magic card The Warrior Returning Alive to bring back the Marauding Captain back to my hand and I summon it to the field in attack mode, and like you saw before I use its effect to summon another Marauding Captain to the field. Now with that its bonus effect activates, you can't attack a Marauding Captain when there is another warrior type monster on the field. And now I attack your dragon with Rare Metal Dragon!"

"I activate my trap card, Negate Attack!" he announced back as a vortex opened up and stopped the attack."

"Now I end turn," she said, without anything else she could do.

"I draw," Edgar said as he added. "Now I summon one monster face down, switch Mirage Dragon to defense, and end turn."

"I draw!" she called out as Edgar added.

"And now I activate my other Trap Card, A Feint Plan! With it, you cannot attack a monster that is face down for the rest of this turn."

"Then I destroy your Mirage Dragon with Rare Metal Slash!"

Then in an explosion, his dragon with destroyed and she said. "And with that I end my turn."

"I draw," he said. "Now for my first move, I activate Block attack, switching your Rare Metal Dragon into Defense mode," then as the large dragon switched to defense with a total of 1200 he continued. "And then I flip my Red Eyes B. Chick, then tribute it to summon, my favorite card, the mighty Red Eyes Black Dragon!"

After saying that it felt like the Stadium was shaking all over as from a ball of fire from the stage as large and dark beast came out of it. "Now Red Eyes, destroy her dragon with Infernal Fire Blast!"

The molten fire formed a large ball in its mouth and launched it at the creature, incinerating it as Sword Hunter said. "Oh, is it hot over here, or is it just me?"

"With that I end my turn."

"I draw," she says as she pulls out the magic card Double attack and thinks.

_I could use that later; I just need to make him think he is winning._

"Oh poor me, with that scorcher of an attack I have nothing to play, I will have to end my turn and hope these two strong men will be able to protect me from your next turn."

The boys in the audience were getting pretty ticked off because of what Edgar was doing as he just had a daze on his face. "Well, that kiss from you is as good as mine, and I draw."

He looked at his card, "oh how ever sweeter, I play the magic card Infernal Fire Blast, now my dragon can attack your life points directly."

After he said that, his dragon launched the attack that went past her monsters and hit her, taking away most of her life points until they stopped at 300. "You can really be rough on a girl, can't you?" she asked in a sad tone.

"Well... um... I didn't mean..." Edgar stuttered to say as he added. "Now I end my turn."

"My draw then," she replied as she drew her card and a grin appeared on her face.

"This game is over," Bloodlust said as his group nodded in reply.

"Even though these strong men have done such a good job protecting me, I just need someone stronger to win this match. So I sacrifice my two Marauding Captains to summon, my favorite monster, Sword Hunter!"

Then as the two warriors disappeared, a larger and heavily armed warrior stood before them with 2450 attack points. "Well, even though that monster is stronger, that won't beat me with a 50 point difference.

"And I'm not done yet, now I activate, Double Attack, by discarding a higher level monster than my Sword Hunter, he can attack you twice during the same turn!" She then discarded a card. "Oh and to add to it, I activate the trap card that you negated with your Mirage Dragon, Reinforcement of the Army, giving my Sword Hunter an extra 500 attack points during this battle phase,"

Then the attack of her monster rose to 2950 and then called out. "Now my warrior; attack his Dragon with Heavyweight Slash!"

Then as Sword Hunter grabbed a large blade off his back, he charged at the Dragon and sliced it in half, destroying it and causing Edgar's life point's drop down to 1750. "Oh and before my next attack, my monster's effect activates, now the monster that was just destroyed becomes an equipment magic card and equips to him, giving him an extra 200 attack points."

Then instead of the sparkles of light from the destroyed monster just disappeared, they transferred over to Sword Hunter's monster and formed a black sword in its hand with the head of Red Eyes as the handle and its attack raised to 3150. "Nothing like the fell of a new sword to play with. Now finish him off, with Red Eyes Slash!"

Then with incredible speed Sword Hunter slashed right through Edgar and his life points hit 0.

Then as the Holograms disappeared, Sword Hunter walked over to Edgar and said. "Good duel, but no kiss."

He groaned as she turned her attention towards the audience. "So my kiss is still up for grabs, which one of you wants to duel me next?"

All the guys cheered and pointed at themselves as our heroes were a bit astonished.

"I did not see that coming," Atticus said.

He is one of the best at his school, but why did he duel like an amateur?" Syrus asked.

"Hopefully you guys find that out before you have to duel her," Fredi said as his group started to walk off.

Then Chancellor Sheppard's voice boomed throughout the speaker system. "That was a fine match to start off this tournament, but I now have another surprise for you all, the next duel day will not be scheduled."

Everyone was shocked from this news as he continued. "The duel will be broadcasted on the same the duel will be, it will be right after school right here. This has been done to make sure that the Contestants are always on their toes and ready for anything."

To Be Continued

When will the next match be, read and review to find out.


	4. Sword Hunter's fun

Chapter 4: Sword Hunter's fun

In David's and Edgar's room, Edgar is really depressed as David said. "As the Leader of the Gravekeeper gang, even when not in the city I still uphold my rightful duties to uphold the Gravekeeper's name, even though we are from different gangs all gangs have a verbal contract with us that if attacked by another gang, my gang would remove all of that gang's resources or just take over their territory. But you are Edgar Knight, Leader of Dragon Gang, the most feared and well known Gang in the world compared to mine. So why don't you act like the duelist that got you that position."

"I couldn't help it, she was just so hot."

"I couldn't believe you of all people couldn't see that she was just doing that to make you screw up. You should have seen through her tricks and slaughtered her like you have done to so many others."

"But... she's hot!"

David slapped himself in the forehead. "Look, before and still since we joined those gangs we have been friends. So the next time you duel in that tournament, make sure you focus on the match instead of the scenery."

* * *

In the empty halls of the school, Sword Hunter is running as she thinks. 

_Seven duels since that tournament and still no one worthy enough to get the prize. This place is way too much fun. But now, I'm hungry._

She continued to run until she saw Bloodlust with his back to the wall. "So I see you're having fun, Sword Hunter."

She smiled. "Can you blame a girl? There is just so much fresh meat here compared to our school. And I see you are also enjoying it here," she replied as she motioned her finger to her lips and Bloodlust wiped off the red liquid on his mouth with his sleeve.

"Well, like you said. A lot of fresh meat, and there is a certain slab I got my eyes on that looks very, appetizing."

"Oh tall, dark and bloodthirsty; who would that be?"

He grinned. "The one you have been hanging out with, Alexis Rhodes."

A sad look came over Sword Hunter's face. "NO! I'm having fun with her, have one of her friends instead!" she whinnied childishly.

"Then do you want to take her place?"

A scared look came over the well figured girl's face as she replied. "No."

He chuckled. "Good, but since I think I still have a heart left in me somewhere, mess with her mind some more before I have a duel with her."

"Yay! Well I know you're probably not hungry anymore but I am, see you later," she said as she skipped down the hall.

* * *

In the dinning hall, the girls are sitting together once again as Sword Hunter asked. "Hey Kristen, I forgot to ask. How is that shy friend of yours doing?" 

"You mean, Jamie?"

"Who else can pull off that shy act so well, I know a few girls that just love that."

"He is doing a lot better; he actually has a girlfriend now"

"I wish she came with you guys, I could have taught her so many ways on how to be the best Juliet to the Romeo."

"Sometimes I wonder if you know how you sound," Nicole pointed out.

"Oh what could a girl like me that is too shy to date sound like?" she asked as she winked.

But during this conversation, Dawn was noticing how Alexis is just moving the food on her plate. "Alexis, is something the matter?"

Alexis shot up from staring at her plate and asked. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"She asked if you were daydreaming about having Jaden all alone in your room again," Sword Hunter replied as she giggled by how red Alexis's face got.

"I did not ask that," Dawn replied shyly.

"Can you please stop doing that?" Alexis asked as she added, "there is a child present."

"I don't mind," Destruere replied with a smile, "its fun to see your face like a tomato."

"Oh come on, you can tell us about those dreams where you're all alone in your room until he comes through your window, then where one thing leads to another and..." Sword Hunter assumed as Alexis's face got so red it looked like it was going to explode.

"I don't think like that!" she yelled as Sword Hunter could only smile.

"Oh come now, I'm just having a little fun. But I wouldn't put it past you; he is a real cutie after all. I wouldn't mind having a duel with him in this tournament."

Alexis's face was so red that she got up with her tray and walked to her room. "Sword Hunter, why do you always like to do that?" Kristen asked.

"I can't help it, young romance just does that to me," Sword Hunter replied while giggling, "it's just my nature."

* * *

Then Alexis walked through her door and set her tray on the desk then look at herself in her mirror. "Why is my face so red from what Sword Hunter keeps telling me, it's not like anything of what she says is true." 

She then grabbed a piece of toast that was on the tray and started to eat it, the shine of the sun hit her in the eye as she looked out at the setting sun.

She walked over to it and put her hand on the glass. The shook her head furiously and yelled. "Stop thinking about what she said!"

* * *

Jaden sneezed at the Ra dinner table as Syrus said. "You should probably go see the nurse, that's like the fourth time you have sneezed in a row. You're probably catching a cold." 

"Either that or there is a conversation about me going on somewhere," Jaden replied while laughing.

(Just incase for the ones that don't know, it is believed in some places that if you sneeze that means someone is talking about you.)

* * *

The next day, Alexis arouse from her bed looking worse than she did before, her hair was everywhere besides where she wanted it to be, dark rims under her eyes, and it would take an hour of ironing to get out all the wrinkles that where in her pajamas. 

_I didn't get an ounce of sleep._

She thought as she stumbled over to her desk, to look at her messed up self.

_What Sword Hunter said kept me up all night, she does seem like a good person but when the discussion becomes about relationships she can't seem to control what comes out of her mouth. But I don't like Jaden that way._

She pulled and tugged hard on that comb till she was able to get it back to normal.

_But if I keep having nights like this, I won't be able to stay wake during class._

Then she remembered all the times Jaden would fall asleep in class by using tricks or just resting his head on the desk. Then she laughed to herself.

_Maybe I will ask to borrow one of his pair of glasses.

* * *

_

She made it down to the Breakfast hall and sat down with the rest of the girls. "Alexis, you look like a wreck," Nicole said as Alexis put her fork in her plate.

"Yeah, I know. I didn't get much sleep last night."

They could all see Sword Hunter about to say something but Alexis added. "And no Sword Hunter, it wasn't anything like that?"

"Oh what do you mean," she asked innocently, "that only makes me wonder even more what you could be thinking of."

"Well, if I wanted to, I could have all the guys here in the palm of my hand," Twister gloated, moving back her long red hair.

"Is that because you can't get any of the guys back at our school," Destruere asked as Twister glared and the rest laughed.

"That's not true, it's just that because I am such a good duelist they are too shy to approach me."

"Well Dawn here gets a lot of attention," Nicole replied as her friend grew a slight shade of red," she's just too shy to go out."

"N-Nicole," Dawn whispered.

"So the shy act," Sword Hunter replied with a grin, "I know a lot of guys that love that kind of girl," Dawn's face only got redder as she continued, "but there are only two reasons that a girl usually does the shy act, one she has her own reasons or the second that she already has her eyes on someone and is too nervous to tell them because it usually turns out to be a close friend, and since your teammate in the wheelchair already seems to have a lovely assistant, I'm going to go with, Bobby."

_Well, at least she isn't bothering me with this today, but I bet I know what Dawn is going through right now._

Alexis thought as Sword Hunter asked. "So, am I right?"

But before Dawn could say anything, Nicole looked at her watch then said in shock. "Oh I completely forgot, Dawn I need your help on a few problems in our Ritual Card homework, could you give me a hand."

Dawn nodded. "Sure," then she turned back towards the rest. "I'm sorry, but we have to go."

They walked off with there trays as Sword Hunter could only grin. "What secrets could they be hiding?"

* * *

They walked into their room and closed Nicole closed her door while Dawn sits on her bed. "Did, did she really figure it out that easily?" Dawn asked. 

Nicole shook her head. "I doubt it; she is just twisting things around that mind of her," she said as she sat next to her, "just relax, we both like Bobby I can not put that past us, but we are in the tournament and need to stay focused."

"I know, but still it shocked me that thinking someone could read me that easily, it makes me wonder if he might already know."

"Nah, I don't think so. But we better get ready, school is about to start."

Dawn smiled. "Yeah."

* * *

Later that day at night, those two are in their room once again studying their books as Nicole stretched her arms. "All this studying is starting to hurt my head." 

"It would help if you did do that more often," Dawn replied with a smile and giggled while Nicole gave her a sour look.

"Very funny, Dawn," she then closed her book and looked out at the moon. "It's a beautiful night; I will just go for a walk to clear my mind."

"So that will be about five minutes," Dawn said once again with a smile and Nicole stuck her tongue at her roommate.

* * *

Nicole walked out of the building, the air felt so cool against her skin; she always loved how this felt since she could remember. She looked up in the sky to see all the stars shiny down on her with the moon so clear she felt like as if she could just reach out and pluck it from the sky. 

_It's beautiful._

She thought as she walked in the grass until she came up to the flower garden. She walked down the grassy path between the many different assortments of flowers. She looked around and then laid down on the grass surrounded by the flowers.

_Nothing is more relaxing than this. If I could I would just fall asleep right here._

"I expected to find you here," a dark voice said as she shot up to see the Vlad student Shadow looking at her. "Your personality was so easy to figure out. You might put up a strong front but deep down you are as much of a girl as anyone of the female students here."

"What do you want?" she asked angrily.

"Not much, Miss. Smalls. Because, I basically already know everything there is to know about you."

She shot up. "Who do you think you are?"

He chuckled a dark chuckle. "My name is, Shadow. I am training to be a Duel Psychiatrist at my school. And with what I know, I am able to figure out my opponent's personality, their thoughts and feelings, and even what move they would make next, before they even know about it."

She stood up. "That, I would have to see to believe."

He inserted his deck into his duel disk and it became activated. "Well then, don't be afraid the truth."

To Be Continued

Could the truth be too painful to hear? Read and review.


	5. The truth of the heart

Chapter 5: The truth of the heart

In Edgar's and David's room, David is using the video chat to talk to a girl dressed like the Gravekeeper's Assailant. "My Chief, the rare card shipment was sent to the Amazoness Gang and the money was acquired in exchange."

"Excellent, you are doing well my second in command in taking my place while I am here."

She blushed a bit. "Thank you my chief, I do my best to serve and uphold the name of the Gravekeeper's. Also our guards have captured a spy from the Fiend Gang, what shall be done with him?"

David could only smile. "You are in-charge till I return, use your imagination."

"The tomb of one thousand screams it is."

"Good choice once again, keep him down there till he changes his ways to follow the way of the Gravekeeper's."

"Will do... I'm sorry, hold on, there is something going on at the gate," she disappeared from the screen for a few seconds then she returned, "My Chief, the Leader of the Hero Gang has appeared. He is following the rule as he is not wearing his duel disk within our area and is requesting a chat with you."

"Ah yes, let me speak with him."

She bowed and moved to the side as a kid around his age wearing a white jumpsuit with a patch that has the letter H on it. "Leader of the Hero Gang, what do I owe the Honor?" David asked in a smug tone.

"No chit-chat, David. My gang has noticed that your gang is sending out Fake Copy Cards, and you know the Hero Gang is the Police of the Gangs in Duel City."

"Yes, I know that very well, but you listen here," David said as his voice became darker, "never, and I mean never disrespect the name of the Gravekeeper's by such slander. My gang would never do a crime as low as that one. If anyone of my gang members were caught doing such a crime the Gravekeeper's would punish him our way. And you have my word on this!"

"The Hero Gang is the one that has the power to punish those who have been caught breaking the law."

"And doesn't the Gravekeeper's Gang have a verbal agreement with your Gang," David asked as the Leader of the Hero Gang was shocked, "my gang lends you resources and we are left alone from your gang, you don't want to break that contract do you, you know what my gang is capable of if its backstabbed."

Now the leader of the Hero Gang is startled, his hands shaking. "I'm sorry, I forgot about that."

"Good thing I reminded you, you don't want me to have my spies to infiltrate your gang and destroy it from the inside out like I have done to so many other gangs, do you?"

The Hero Gang leader bowed. "I am sorry for wasting your time, Chief David. I will be on my way."

"Good night, Hero."

He walked away from the camera as the girl reappeared. "I do not know how you are able to keep so calm in front of the Heroes my Chief."

"It's easy; like in a duel always keep your opponent on their toes. Now I must leave, please send the Watchers to find out if what he said was true, and if there is, have the trader punish with our most server punishment."

"Yes my Chief."

"And have him punished in front of the whole gang, as an example to those who betray the rules of a Gravekeeper's."

She bowed and the screen disconnected. "Your gang is a complicated one," Edgar said as he relaxed on his bed, "so many rules to follow. Just use your power and take over the city already, you know you can."

"My gang is about order, not power like yours. If you head into a fight headstrong and distracted you will surly lose, like your match with Sword Hunter."

"Yeah yeah I know, but she was so hot," Edgar replied as David slapped his forehead.

* * *

Now with the duel against Shadow and Nicole, Shadow said. "As the gentleman I am, I will let the lady go first."

_This way, by here first move I will be able to completely figure out her strategy, and her defeat._

"Alright then, my draw," Nicole said as she pulled her card. "I summon, Blue Fairy in attack mode," she announced as a fairy with her hair, skin, and dress were all blue and the attack showed 1200. "Now, I place two cards face down and end my turn."

"Interesting choice of cards," Shadow commented as he drew his card. "But too bad it won't stand up to this; I play the field spell card, Realm of Darkness."

He slipped the card into the compartment and the field around them was covered in a black dome, ghosts flied through the air as Shadow chuckled. "I hope you're not afraid of the dark, Nicole."

"No way, this little illusion won't throw me off my game."

He grinned. "That's good to hear, because I summon, Follower of Darkness," then a man wearing a black robe to cover his body appeared on the field with 500 attack points. "Now for the best part, if Realm of Darkness is on the field and the only Monsters on my opponent's side are Light attributes, I can special summon two more from my deck to my field," he said as two more Follower's of Darkness appeared on his field.

"So what, they all can't stand up to my Blue Fairy," Nicole stated.

"Oh Nicole, they are ones who side with the darkness, and darkness is what is covering this field. So now for my field's special ability, if a monster with Darkness in its name attacks, it gains five hundred attack points during the battle phase. Oh but there is more, if a creature with Darkness in its name is to attack a Light attribute monster, the monster is automatically destroyed without life point damage to me; so, Follower of Darkness, attack her Blue Fairy with Curse of Summoning!"

The creature put both of its skeleton like hands together in prayer and started to chant, but from there, a demonic symbol appeared below Nicole's Blue Fairy, summon a hand and pulling the fairy in. "Now wasn't that enjoyable, too bad for you I'm not finished. My other Followers, attack Nicole's life points directly!"

Both of his creatures attack Nicole and reduced her to 2000 life points. "You activated my trap; Fairies of color. Here's how it works, for every five hundred life points I lost during the battle phase, I am able to summon a monster with Fairy in its name from my deck or my hand to the field. So I summon, Red, Orange, Yellow, and Green Fairy to the field in defense mode," Nicole announced as four other fairy monsters appeared with 800 defense points on the field that looked a lot like Blue Fairy but in different colors.

"More little creatures of light, I now see why you can't see the truth," Shadow chuckled.

"What do you mean?"

"Because, light can only see what it isn't hidden by the dark, yet darkness can see everything from the shadows. You think of yourself as a freak, don't you?"

She grinded her teeth. "Where do you get off saying that?"

"It's not hard to see with a well trained eye, especially when your skin is peeling."

Here eyes went wide to see her white skin peeling off to reveal light green skin. "No, not now."

"I bet you were ridiculed by everyone because of that real skin of yours, you even try to hide it with make up. But sooner or later the truth reveals itself," he grinned.

"If I remembered, we are still in a duel. So end your turn already," she snapped.

Shadow chuckled. "Awe, and just when I was having fun. Alright, I place one card face down and end my turn."

She drew her card. "I play Monster Reborn to bring back Blue Fairy to the field and then I reveal my face down card, Fairy Prism. Now I sacrifice all of my fairies to summon, The Fairy of White Light!" she announced as all of the fairies moved through the Prism and formed into a giant fairy with a blinding white light surrounding her, holding a white staff in her right hand and 3000 attack points. "Now, my fairy has a special ability, it lets me destroy any magic or trap card on the field once per turn. So I destroy, your Realm of Darkness. Fairy of White Light, remove this darkness!"

Shadow's field card was destroyed and the field returned to normal. "I see, removing the truth from your sight."

"Shut up, you know nothing about me!" she screamed.

He chuckled. "It's strange; I've read up on other cases like yourself. A skin pigment deficiency which changes your skin to another color; but I've never met one with green skin."

"What's your point?"

"My point is usually all of them committed suicide before their tenth birthday, unable to stand all of the insults they get each day. But you are fourteen; the only reason that is possible is if you found a sanctuary, and I'm going to guess it is Bobby."

She flinched from that accusation. "It would make perfect sense, since you can't tell him how you feel. Because if he was to reject your feelings, your sanctuary would crumble and your whole world would shatter before your eyes."

"Shut up!" she screamed. "Now Fairy of White Light; attack the middle Follower with Shining assault!"

An orb of light formed on the tip of the Monsters staff and fired bolts of light at the Follower.

"Sorry, but I activate a trap. Summoning Circle of Darkness," Shadow replied as the trap card revealed a picture of three Followers of Darkness standing on the edge of the circle. "This trap is one of my personal favorites, if I sacrifice three characters with Darkness in its name, I can stop your attack and end your battle phase."

"That's all, for sacrificing three monsters?"

Shadow chuckled. "No, their sacrifices will not be in vain, for now it summons, Lord of Darkness," he replied, summoning a large demonic creature to the field with 2500 attack points.

"So what? My Fairy of White Light is still stronger," she snapped.

"Well, he does have a special ability, when he is summoned; he destroys all spells and traps on the field; so goodbye to your Fairy Prism."

Her card was destroyed before her eyes, her Fairy of White Light changed back into her colored fairies in defense mode. "Now, is it my turn?"

"She grinded her teeth. "Fine, make your move."

He drew his card and grinned. "Too bad this will be your last turn. Pity, I was having a good time."

"Just go!"

"Very well," I play the spell card, Blade of Darkness Soul," he announced, equipping a giant sword to his Lord of Darkness. "Now my monster can attack all of your monsters at once, and with my creature's second special ability, if your monster's defense is lower then my monsters attack, you still take damage to your life points."

Nicole's eyes went wide as he commanded. "Now my Lord, destroy her!"

Giant black wings appeared out of his monster's back, flew over and with one mighty swing, destroyed all of Nicole's creatures; dropping her life points down to 0."

The virtual projects disappeared with Shadow chuckling. "Something tells me I'm going to have a lot of fun here."

* * *

Back in David's and Edgar's room, Edgar was chatting with his gang members and all of them had water filled eyes. "We feel for you boss, you should have won that kiss from that hotty."

He covered his watery eyes with his arm. "I'm glad to know my gang will always have my back."

They all cried together but we see David slowly hitting his head against the wall. "Why me, why me?"

To Be Continued

Yes I know its been awhile, but I finally got ideas for it. Read and review.


	6. Info on Duel City

Chapter 6: Info on Duel City

The scene opens to reveal the long awaited rematch between Czar and Chazz in the tournament; Czar has 1000 life points and a Metal Zoa with the original Zoa on his field and one card in his hand while Chazz has the three Ojama Brothers in defense mode, two face down cards and 200 life points. Sadly, it is still Czar's turn.

"Soon, I will have beaten you and regain my title at North Academy," Czar boosted.

"Yeah yeah, just make your move already," Chazz commented.

"Now Zoa, attack the yellow freak!"

The creature launched an attacked, but Chazz announced. "You activated my trap card, Negate Attack!"

The trap card revealed itself as a zone formed in front of the three creatures. "Thank you boss," the Yellow Ojama said, "I always knew that you cared."

"Oh shut up," Chazz snapped.

"You are only delaying your defeat, I end my turn," Czar announced as Chazz drew his card.

"Now, I activate my spell card, Ojama Delta Hurricane! Do your stuff, Ojama's!"

The three jumped into the air and formed a large tornado around Czar's monsters, instantly destroying them then the Ojama's formed back on Chazz's side. "But don't worry, I won't leave you empty handed; because I activate my trap card, Ojama Trio."

The trap card revealed itself and three Ojama tokens formed on his side. "Next I play, Polymerization, to fuse my three worthless Ojama's to summon the Ojama King."

After that, the three fused to create the large monster before them with 0 attack points. "Have you lost your mind, you still can't do any damage to me."

"Well that's why I'm giving my monster a little muscles," Chazz replies, holding out the last card in his hand. "Ojama Muscles I mean; now goodbye to your tokens."

The Ojama King's large tongue wrapped around the Ojama tokens and ate them, causing his attack points to go up by 3000 and his arms to be filled with muscles. "But since those were tokens, you take 300 life points of damage for each one."

Electricity was seen attacking Czar's body and his life points dropped down to 100. "No, this cannot be! I am the, Czar!"

"Well I am the Princeton, so Ojama King, skydive belly flop!"

The enormous creature jumped into the air, it soared till it came over Czar's head and came crashing down, taking away the rest of his life points. "The winner of the second match, and like it wouldn't be obvious, Chazz Princeton of Duel Academy!" Crowler announced, causing the audience to cheer wildly.

"Let me hear it, Duel Academy. Chazz... It... Up!" Chazz boosted, erecting his right arm into the air.

"Chazz it up!" everyone replied.

* * *

A week later, the students are studying as the teacher, who happens to be the Dorm Supervisor to the Ra Dorm, said. "Now we will be studying World Geography of Duel Monsters, and the first one we will be focusing on is the city, built by Kaiba Corp, known as Duel City. This city, was built with the entire community, both the suburbs and the city itself, revolves around duelist young and old."

"That sounds sweet," Jaden whispers to Syrus, "I would love to move out there."

"Don't we have some students from Duel City here for the Tournament?" Syrus asked.

"I'm sure we do," Jaden said, rubbing the top of his head, "I just can't remember who."

"It might help if you two look at the front of the room, that might answer your question," Bastian replied.

The two blinked twice at Bastian then looked to the front of the room; seeing David Sepulcher and Edgar Knight sitting in the front of the room next to the teacher. "Hey, when did they get there?" Jaden asked.

"They have been sitting their the whole time, dweebs," Chazz stated, the two turn to see him leaning in his chair, "either you two are just dumb or you need to get your eyes checked. But I'm going with both."

"Now, these two, being from the city, have gladly accepted to help me discuss the lifestyle within the city by answering any questions you might have. Please, feel free to ask them anything about the city," the teacher announces, stepping away from the desk to let the two citizens' step forth.

"Thank you, Professor," David replied, then turned to address the class. "As you already know, my name is David Sepulcher and this is Edgar Knight. We were both born and raised within the City and have been dueling as far back as we can remember, mainly before we could even walk."

The class had a good chuckle from that comment as Edgar added. "Now we are willing to answer any question; but only a cute girl first."

David then slapped Edgar in the back of the head from that comment. "Excuse him; he doesn't know how to focus."

Some hands went up, but none was as noticeable as, Jaden. Waving his arm and saying. "Oh, here, pick me!"

"You," David said, pointing to a young girl in the front row and Jaden fell in his seat.

"What kind of lifestyles is there?"

"It is actually like a small town, the people who live in the suburbs work in the city," David replied. "The only difference is everyone, young and old, are duelists. Everything from neighbor squabbles to large business transactions are settled by a duel."

Everyone gasped by that answer. "Hey, it's true," Edgar added. "We even use it as a way to defend ourselves, like the new age weaponry."

More hands rose into the air as once again, Jaden was waving his arm in the air.

"You," David said to the Slifer in the back, causing the energetic hero user to fall on his back once again.

"Why isn't he picking on me?" Jaden asked.

"Maybe because you are being completely obnoxious," Bastian replied.

A sweat drop appeared on the back of his head. "No, that can't be."

"So are you saying that Duel Monster cards have replaced guns in that city?" the boy asked.

"Correct; because we use dueling to settle the matters, guns are no longer needed," David replied.

"It's Rich Boy's new world idea, our city being the prototype," Edger added.

Hands were raised once again as Jaden was now waving both of his arms and calling out to pick him. David had an irritated look on his face, annoyed by Jaden's outbursts for attention. "Fine," he groaned under his breath then pointed at Jaden, "but this better be an intelligent question?"

"Yeah, how can I get a place there?" Jaden asked enthusiastically.

David slapped his forehead. "Alright, any intelligent questions?"

Jaden fell down again. "But I was serious," he whined.

David then picked on, Fredi. "I also heard, even without all the weapons and deaths in your Utopia, your city has the highest gang activity then any other city. What is your thoughts on that?"

David and Edgar seemed to chuckle from that question. "Well, that is true. It is, kind of like, an unwritten rule that most of the teens of the city fit into a gang based on the deck you use. There are many gangs and each one are usually quite small; but the four major gangs are: The Amazoness, the Dragons, the Hero and the Gravekeeper's; each one controlling a separate part of the city with Duel City Academy being right in the middle and Sacred Ground to the gangs."

More hands rose in the air and David picked the Ra in the middle. "So, are you guys in a gang?"

"Sorry, beauty; but that is out of the area of what we are answering," Edger replied and then he looked around to see other hands. "You," he said to Alexis with a dazed look on his face.

"Yes, I don't understand, how do these gangs work?"

David grind. "I'm glad you asked, Miss. Rhodes. Well the smaller gangs are usually affiliated with one of the four major gangs. Like because the Gravekeeper's runs the graveyard, another affiliated gang in the area will be the Zombie gang. Each one of the four gangs control a certain area of the city: Gravekeeper's control the graveyards, which are spread all over the city, of the city, the Dragon Gang controls the business part of the city, the Amazoness Gang controls the shopping district of the city and the Hero's control the suburbs. The Hero's are seen as the police gang of Duel City by enforcing the laws and protecting the children from the gang activity; they are usually affiliated with the Roid Gang and the Chemistry Gang."

Jaden, Syrus and Bastian looked at each other then back at David.

"The Dragon gang is actually the only one that is well known for their vicious qualities: affiliated with the Fiend Gang and the Darkworld Gang. The Amazoness Gang is better known as the "all girl gang," that gang is affiliated with the Cyber Dancer gang, Fairy Gang and the Spellcaster Gang. But the last gang, the Gravekeeper's are known as the business gang of Duel City, focusing on the honor and integrity of the gang. That gang sells anything from rare cards to their services to the other gangs. This gang is affiliated with the Zombie Gang in the graveyards of the city which are in each area of the city."

A few hands went up and David picked on Bastian. "But with such gang activity, how can any of the citizens of your city find it a good place to live there?"

"Just because there are a lot of gangs in our city, doesn't make it a bad place to live," Edger answered. "If you just know what to look out for, Duel City is a great place to live."

But before they could answer the next question, an announcement by Chancellor Sheppard was heard over the speaker system. "Alright, students; another match has been decided. The next two to duel after school in the Ultimate School Duel is: David Sepulcher of Duel City VS Dawn Knight of Klein Duel Academy."

Edgar slapped David on the back. "Lucky you, you get to duel a beauty as well."

"Yeah, and at least I will win this one," David snapped back, causing Edgar to look depressed.

"Ah, come on; now Sword Hunter was hot."

David slapped his forehead.

* * *

The auditorium was filled with chattering students, awaiting the next match to begin. Alexis was heading over to the seat saved by her friends but was intercepted by Sword Hunter and Virus. "Hey there, Lexi," Sword Hunter said. "With all these classes it seems like we haven't seen each other in a while; come sit with us."

She smiled at the thought but shook her head. "Thanks, but my friends have already saved me a seat."

Sword Hunter looks behind the Queen of Duel Academy to see Syrus, Bastian, Atticus, Chazz and Jaden; but what was most intriguing to the Vlad student was who was sitting next to the open seat. "Oh I see, you just want to sit next to your crush."

Alexis's eyes went wide as her cheeks turned red. "No, it's not like that. And I don't have a crush on, Jaden."

A sly grin appeared on Sword Hunter's face. "Oh, is that so? Then you don't mind if I go talk to him right now, will you?"

Alexis's face turned even redder; unable to speak she shook her head, but just to watch her skip over to her friends.

"Hello, boys," Sword Hunter announced to the small crowed, causing all but Jaden's eyes to turn heart shaped, "are you all getting ready for the exciting duel?"

They all nodded as they drooled at the sight of her gorgeous figure. "You bet, this is going to be a sweet match," Jaden replied.

Sword Hunter giggled. "You must be the infamous, Jaden Yuki. You're carefree attitude is a dead giveaway. I do hope you last long enough to duel me in this Tournament."

Before Jaden could reply, Chazz approached the beauty of Vlad Duel Academy. "Forget about the slacker, duel me instead."

Sword Hunter giggled once again. "That's what I like about the guys in this school, so full of energy," she then brushed back her hair, causing the boys to drool even more as she turned her back to them. "Well, enjoy the show."

She walked off as Jaden looked at his friends with a questionable look. "Why are you guys drooling so much?"

His friends snapped out of their love daze, then looked at him with deadly eyes. "Are you blind, man?" Bastian asked.

"Yeah, she is like the hottest girl in this school," Chazz added.

"And I already started a Fan Club to her," Atticus added, holding out a bag with Sword Hunter's picture on the front, "new members get this gift bag which contains three limited addition pictures of her."

"How can I join?" Syrus asked.

A nervous sweet drop appeared on the back of the Hero Duelist head. "If you say so."

* * *

Sword Hunter walked back over to Alexis and Virus. "Well, that should have them all wild up, have fun," she said, walking with Virus over to her school mates on the other side of the stadium.

_Great, now they are going to be more bone headed then usual,_ Alexis thought, walking over to her saved seat.

* * *

Sword Hunter and Virus sat in their saved seats as Bloodlust asked. "So, how is it working out here?"

Sword Hunter giggled. "These boys are so much easier to manipulate then the ones back home. All I have to do is give them some attention and they will follow any command I give them."

"But what about that one," he asked, motioning the attention to Jaden, "he was never phased by you."

"True, he is a difficult one to put under my spell, but I bet once we duel he will turn into putty in my hands just like the rest of the male students here."

"It would be nice if you actually did something with your power over them then brag," Shadow commented.

She childishly stuck her tongue at him. "Oh let me have my fun."

The lights then went dark as the spotlight focused on Dr. Crowler on the platform. "Welcome Students to Round Three of the Ultimate School Duel. On might right, all the way from Duel City, let's hear it for, David Sepulcher!"

Applause and cheering filled the stadium as David would wave to the crowd. "And on my left, from the Klein Duel Academy, Dawn Knight!"

The shy girl gently waved to the crowd as the applause seemed to make her more nervous. _Even if she is shy, to be in this tournament she must be a high level duelist. I won't let my guard down,_ David thought.

But all his roommate could think was. _Interesting, if I was to marry her, she won't have to change her last name._

"You both know the rules, so shuffle each other's deck," Crowler announced.

The two walked towards each other. There they exchanged decks and shuffled them in their own way. After that, they returned each other's decks and returned to their sides. "Now ready, and Begin!"

"Let's Duel!" they both announced with 4000 life points appearing on their duel disks.

To Be Continued

It's been awhile I know, but I hope to continue this ff. Read and Review.


	7. Dawn VS David

Chapter 7: Dawn VS David

David pulled out five cards from his duel disk and a grin already formed on his face as his eyes focused on the Necrovalley he drew for his first card. _My Gravekeeper's never fail me; but it's too soon to slaughter her. I want to see if she is even worth the use of this card._

But in the audience, Edgar started to chuckle. "Ah come on, buddy. At least give us a show first before ending this duel."

Syrus, Jaden, Bastian, Atticus, Chazz and Alexis, who are sitting in the row above him, overheard this. "What are you talking about, Edgar?" Alexis asked.

He turned his head. "Well since you asked, Queen of Duel Academy, it would be my honor to tell you. I've seen that look on David's face hundreds of times, and with that look it usually means he drew his trump card already. This will be a short match."

"I draw," David announced, pulling out a card from his duel disk, "and for my first move, I will summon, Gravekeeper's Curse to the field in attack mode."

Then appeared on the field in front of him, a monster was summoned with the attack points of 800. "But, as soon as my monster is summoned, your life points automatically take 500 points of damage. Use your curse my Gravekeeper," David ordered as a green energy surrounded his monster then appeared around Dawn, she squealed in pain as her life points dropped down to 3500."

"Sweet," Jaden said excitedly, "already the first move and he took 500 of her life points; what an opening."

Edgar just chuckled. "He's just playing with her."

"What do you mean?" Chazz asked.

Edgar raised his index finger. "Unless the queen wants to know, you're out of luck."

"Why you..." Chazz replied angrily, but Alexis cut him off.

"Can you please answer my friend's question?"

"Certainly; see David and I have been dueling buddies since as far back as I can remember, and if he is doing something like this he is just trying to see what she is capable of, wondering if he even needs his trump card."

"That is a gusty move he's using," Jaden commented.

"More like an arrogant move," Bastian replied.

Edgar chuckled. "Oh just wait and see; you will find out his true power of dueling strategies."

"I will end my turn with a face down card," David said, placing a magic or trap card on the field, "your move."

Dawn nervously drew a card from her duel disk and focused on her cards. _Come on, Dawn, focus, _she thought to herself, _you can't choke now, after getting this far._

She swallowed hard. "I will now summon, Solar Flare Dragon, to the field in attack mode," then the dragon of fire was summon to the field with 1500 attack points; but before she launched the attack, she looked at David's face down card. _That card could be a trap waiting for me when I attack, but maybe it's just a distraction. Oh what should I do?_

In the stands, Bobby and Nicole were watching and Nicole shook her head. "She is flinching again."

"This is a new place for her and she always has been defensive when it comes to a face down card," Bobby replied, "I just hope she gets it together in time."

_For now I will play it safe._ She thought, placing a magic card on the field. "I activate the Spell Card, Area Limit B, changing all monsters with a level of four or above into defense mode."

Her dragon then changed into defense mode with only 1000 defense points. "After that, I will end my turn. But now my monsters effect activated, damaging your life points by 500."

Fire surrounded David, but he wasn't fazed by it at all as his life points dropped to 3500. _So, a wall duelist. Pity, I thought I would get to use my Necrovalley but it looks to be not needed. _

He drew his card. "If that is all you have, then I summon Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier in attack mode!"

The monster was summoned. "Did you forget my spell card, your monster is now switched into defense by the effect of my Area Limit B," Dawn called out, watching the monster switch to defense.

_Good, she is getting into the game._ He thought as a grin formed on his face. "No, I didn't forget at all, because I activate my trap; Dust Tornado."

The face down card revealed itself, sending a tornado right at her Area Limit B and destroying it. _It was a decoy, I should have attacked,_ she thought in distress.

"Now I can switch my monster into attack mode," David announced, switching Gravekeeper's Spear Solider into attack with 1500 attack power. "But don't think because you defend yourself, you are completely safe. Thanks to my Spear Soldier's effect, you lose the difference anyways. Now my Spear Soldier, attack her dragon with spear strike!"

His monster launched his spear at her dragon, destroying it and taking her life points down to 3000. "But I'm not done; Curse," a sadistic grin formed on his face, causing his opponent to feel a deep pain at the bottom of her heart, "no mercy."

His monster moved his staff, causing the green energy to form around Dawn once again. She screamed in pain as her life points dropped to 2200. "I then place two cards face down and end my turn."

"Come on, Dawn!" Nicole called out, "you can still beat him!"

Dawn's body continued to shake, looking at the grin on his face. Being so cold yet confident, like he knew what she was going to do next even before she knew. She didn't know if it was even possible to beat him now.

"Come on, Dawn!" Bobby's voice called out, piercing through the cheering of the crowd like a knife. "Just believe and you can do it!"

Her eyes were now filled with hope as she nodded her head. "I can still do this," she drew her card. _He is probably trying to make me believe it's a trap again, so I will get the match in my favor when I have the chance. _"I summon, Raging Flame Sprite to the field in attack mode!"

She placed the card on her duel disk, summoning in front of her a monster with only 100 attack points. "I now equip it with Axe of Despair, increasing its attack points by 1000."

David started to chuckle, discarding his Necrovalley to the graveyard. "Sorry, but I activate my Trap, Magic Jammer!"

The Axe that was in Flame Sprite's hands disappeared. "I was hoping you would have been less predictable than that."

Edgar chuckled. "Come on, David; you don't need to do that to the innocent flower."

"What do you mean, Edgar?" Jaden asked.

"Sorry, but you know I only answer to beautiful women."

Jaden looked at Alexis, who then rolled her eyes. "Fine. Edgar, what do you mean?"

"Simple, my queen; he makes comments like that to have the opponent believe he knows what they are about to do before they do it. Psychology is one third of the game, along with strategy and an insane amount of luck."

"Then, I will attack your life points directly with my monsters special effect," Dawn announced as the audience watched the small fairy launch a fire attack right at his life points and sending them to 3400. "Now the second effect, my Sprite gangs 1000 attack points," the monster grew a small amount as the attack of the monster when to 1100, "and I will end my turn with two face down cards."

_Those cards are obviously traps, but I am getting bored, _David thought as he drew his card, _because, I've already won this match._ I will now attack your Raging Flame Sprite with Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier."

"You activate my trap, Nightmare Wheel," Dawn announced, revealing her face down card and David's Spear Soldier was strapped to a giant torture wheel. "Now your monster is paralyzed."

"That is too bad, I'm sorry I failed you my Soldier," David replied in a smug tone, "but sadly that is all I can do at this moment, I will end my turn," then he thought, _false hope is so much fun to give out._

She drew her card. "Now during my Standby Phase, the Nightmare Wheel spins your monster," they watched as his Spear Soldier made one loop, "that torture is then taken out on your life points."

His life points dropped down to 2900. "And just incase you think you will attack me, I activate my other trap, Gravity Bind," her trap card revealed itself, "Now any monster with a level above 4 can not attack as I now have my Raging Flame Sprite attack your life points directly once again!"

The Sprite waved its wand to encase David once again in fire, causing his life points to go down to 1800, but still he didn't even flinch. "Now once again, my Raging Flame Sprite gains 1000 attack points."

The Sprite then grew once again to reveal an attack of 2100. "I will now end my turn, next turn I will win this match."

David drew his card and replied without a second thought. "I end my turn."

Everyone gasped at this action from David. Comments could be heard all around of people saying that David has lost but none of this could even get an action out of David. Keeping his feet planted to the ground and standing with his head held high.

The guys all looked at Alexis, who then exhaled and asked. "Edgar, do you know what is going on?"

"Even though you did ask, my queen, I cannot answer that. It will spoil the ending."

"I can't believe you even suggest that he has a chance," Chazz commented. "We already know David was just all talk."

Edgar chuckled as he turned to face Chazz. "Then how about a bet; if David wins this match, you will have to wear a pink fairy princess outfit: complete with tutu, wings, crown and a wand."

"But if Dawn wins this match, you will have to dress up in that outfit," Chazz replied.

They shook on it. "Your loss, buddy," Edgar replied.

"Don't be too sure," Chazz added.

Back to the duel, Dawn drew her card. "My Nightmare Wheel spins once again, causing you to lose another 500 life points," she called out as the wheel spun and David's life points went down to 1300. "Now my Sprite, end this match with one final attack."

"I don't think so," David replied, "because I reveal my face down card, Magic Cylinder."

Everyone besides Edgar was stunned by this action, seeing the two large cylinders appearing in front of David. From there, the attack was absorbed into one of the cylinders and then fires back at her, causing her life points to drop down to 100. "You waited till my Sprite charged up to activate your trap," Dawn accused.

David chuckled. "Knowing when to use your cards is the best way to strategies; basic dueling."

"Well next turn I will be able to attack you again, not to mention my trap card still has this field stopping you from attacking. I will still win this duel," Dawn announced. "I end my turn."

David drew his card. "I sacrifice my Gravekeeper's Curse to summon, Gravekeeper's Chief in attack mode," Curse disappeared off the field as the chief of the Gravekeeper's appeared in its place."

"Why did you do that?" Dawn questioned, "You can't attack with that monster since its level is too high, not to mention if you sacrificed your Spear Soldier you would have destroyed my Nightmare Wheel."

David chuckle. "But the effect of my Chief is what I am after, since if I tribute summon it successfully I can bring back a monster with Gravekeeper's in its name from my graveyard and summon it back to the field. That means Gravekeeper's Curse comes back to the field."

Dawn's eyes went wide from shock. "But when your Curse is summoned..."

"Correct," David replied. "You instantly take 500 direct damage to your life points," then Curse appeared on the field. "Now my, Curse. End this duel!"

The green energy formed around Curse once again then launched it onto Dawn, causing her life points to hit 0.

She fell to her knees as the projections disappeared. "Winner of the third match of the Ultimate School Duel, David Sepulcher!"

The audience cheered and chanted his name as Chazz's mouth hung wide open. "So, should I address you as princess tomorrow?" Jaden asked as the rest of them laughed.

"Oh shut up!" Chazz snapped back.

* * *

Later that day, David and Edgar were relaxing outside. "Don't you think you could have been a little nicer to the flower, David?"

"I could have slaughter her at anytime; I believe I was more than merciful till the end. But in a duel and leader of the Gravekeeper's, I can't disrespect my title."

"Yeah, I know; but she was hot in her own innocent way."

David shook his head. "I will never understand you, Edgar."

"Hey there! Kids from, Duel City!" a voice called out to them.

The two students turned to see Jaden running up to them. David shook his head. "Oh no, not him."

"Come on, David. You might think of him as an annoying show off who can't focus if his life depended on it; but he actually isn't that bad," Edgar replied.

Jaden stopped in front of them, breathing hard from the run over. "I just had to say, that was a sweet match," he then gave David a thumbs up, "can't wait for us to face off in the tournament."

David grumbled at the sight of the annoying duelist. "I doubt that will be even possible, being the low educated duelist you are."

The happy-go-lucky look on our hero's face disappeared. "What do you mean?"

David stood up. "Isn't it obvious; with your lack of attention on your studies and your energy is as focused as the sun's rays; you must have either bribed the Chancellor or cheated your way into this Tournament. Because I doubt you got here on your dueling skills alone."

The words David spoke cut Jaden deep. "If you think you are so great, duel me right now!"

"That would be a waste of my time," David replied, walking off with Edgar to his dorm, "because unlike you, I actually study."

Jaden calmed down. "Well, my Heroes and I are ready when ever you are!"

But after Jaden finished that sentence, David and Edgar stopped in their tracks. Their hands curled into fists and slowly turned to face him, revealing to him their cold dark stares. "You... are a Hero Duelist?" Edgar asked, his voice completely flipped from his carefree tone to a harsh and dark one.

Jaden looked dumbfoundly at their dark stares. "Yeah I am, is that a problem?"

David equipped his arm with his duel disk. "I will now duel you, and you better be good enough. Because if you lose this duel, I will personally make sure that, not only are you kicked out of this tournament, but expelled from this school as well."

Jaden was shocked by this statement. "You can't do that."

David and Edgar chuckled. "You would be surprised, what the leader of the Gravekeeper's Gang is capable of," Edgar commented.

Jaden's eyes went wide with fear, looking at David whose grin sent shivers through his entire body. "You're the leader of the Gravekeeper's?"

"Well, at least you remember my lecture, Jaden. You're not as much of an airhead as I thought you were; but, are you ready to duel?"

Jaden smirked. "I never turn down a challenge, get your game on."

Edgar chuckled. "Your loss, buddy."

To Be Continued

Will Jaden be able to beat David? Read and review to find out.


	8. David VS Jaden

Chapter 8: David VS Jaden

"Hold on," Edgar announced, causing the two to turn to his direction. "This is an official match against the Leader of a Gang, so we should treat this duel like one."

He then pulled out two cuffs with small cord extending from each on; both David and Edgar grind. "So, you brought a pair," David stated.

Edgar chuckled. "What kind of fun would this place be without them?"

Jaden scratched his head. "What are those?"

Edgar approached the Hero Duelist and locked the cuff on his dueling arm then attached the cord to his Duel Disk. "Don't try to take that off, since it can only come off after the duel is over," David said as Edgar locked one onto his arm. "And to answer your question; let's just say for now that it shocks you into the game."

Edgar stood a good distance away from the two, raising both of his arms in the air. "Now ready," then moved his arms down, "begin!"

"Let's Duel!" the two announced as the life points were set at 4000.

"Like in all official Gang Duels against a Gang Leader, challenger goes first," Edgar announced as Jaden pulled out his sixth card.

"Alright; this is going to be sweet dueling a duelist of your level," Jaden said, looking at his hand.

"Just play your turn," David harshly replied.

"Then for my first move, I play, Elemental Hero Avian in defense mode and end my turn," Jaden announced with Avian appeared on the field, using his large wings as a shield and 1000 defense points.

Both David and Edgar laughed at Jaden's opening move. "I can't believe that is all you did," Edgar managed to say through his hysteria; "this guy is no Hero Duelist that I've ever seen."

David chuckled. "And I thought you said I was going to have a challenge."

"What did I do wrong?" Jaden asked.

"Well, I'm going to have fun slaughtering you," David replied, drawing his sixth card, "and this is how I'm going to do it, because I activate my field spell, Necrovalley!"

The field changed around the three, creating a desert area between two cliff sides. "Now, I also play another spell card, Village of the Gravekeeper's," David stated as a village of tents appeared behind him, "now as long as Necrovalley is on the field, I am allowed to draw two cards during the draw phase. After that, I play three cards face down and summon Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier to the field in attack mode."

His creature appeared on the field with 1500 attack points, positioned and ready to fight. "Now thanks to Necrovalley, my monster increases its attack and defense by 500."

The attack of the warrior went up to 2000. "Now my loyal servant, annihilate the want-to-be hero with Spear Strike!"

Spear Soldier ran across the field and plunged the spear through Avian's chest, instantly destroying him. "Now you remember my Soldier's effect, you take damage to your life points."

Just as Jaden's life points dropped from 4000 to 3000, sparks started to fly from the cuff on his arm and sending a large amount of electricity through his body, making him scream in agony and fall to his knees.

"I can't believe he is in that much pain, I put his at a low setting," Edgar commented.

"What, what the heck is this thing?" Jaden asked in a panic.

David chuckled. "What, it isn't clear to you yet? That sends an electric shock through your body, the more life point damage you take at a time, the stronger the voltage. This is a whole new world of dueling your in, Jaden; so learn to take it. I will now end my turn."

Jaden slowly got to his feet then pulled out his next card. The pain of his body made his hand shake as he looked at his cards. "I play, Warrior returning Alive," but when he played that card, nothing happened, "what's going on?"

The two laughed. "My field card prevents you from accessing your graveyard. So, what is your next move?" David asked.

Jaden couldn't stop his body from shaking; the pain in his body from that shock was unbearable; barely able to have his legs keep his body up. _There is nothing I have in my hand that can stand up to his monster, but maybe this can pull this off, _he thought. "All I can do is place three cards face down and end my turn."

"I draw," David announced, drawing his card, "and because of my Spell card, I'm allowed to draw another card," he pulls out his second card and looked at his hand. "I will now summon one monster face down and attack you directly with my Spear Soldier."

"Sorry, but I activate, Negate Attack! Stopping your attack in its place."

A vortex formed in front of Jaden, stopping David's attack. "Desperate I see, I will then end turn."

Jaden drew his card. "I summon, Elemental Hero Sparkman and equip him with Spark Blaster. When this is..."

"I've dueled Heroes before, I know what it does," David replied.

"Then I use his blaster to switch your Gravekeeper into defense mode," Sparkman fired the blaster, changing Spear Soldier into defense mode and 1500 defense points. Now Sparkman, Static Blast."

Sparkman launched the attack, ensnaring Spear Soldier and instantly destroying him. "Now I use the Blaster on Sparkman, switching him into defense mode and I end my turn."

David draws his two cards. "Now I flip my face down card, to reveal Gravekeeper Spy!" then David's creature formed on the field with 1200 attack points then rose to 1700. "Now I use its ability, taking any monster I want from my deck and special summoning it to the field. So I summon, Gravekeeper's Vassal," the creature formed on his field with 700 attack points which rose to 1200. "Now I sacrifice this card to summon, Gravekeeper's Chief."

Vassal disappeared as the Chief was summoned in its place, 1900 attack points rising to 2400. "Now his effect activates, summoning any Gravekeeper I want from my graveyard."

"Hold on, how can you do that with Necrovalley on the field?" Jaden asked.

"You really need to study," David quoted, "because Chief is on the field, the effect of Necrovalley no longer applies to me. So now I summon back, my Spear Soldier!"

Spear Soldier returned to the field. "Now, get your revenge on Sparkman!"

Spear Soldier launched his attack on Sparkman, destroying it and causing his life points to drop to 2400. The sparks flew from his cuff once again as it sent the electricity throughout his body. He screamed in agony as David's turn still wasn't finished.

"Now my Chief, finish him off with darkness grip."

A dark aura formed around Gravekeeper's Chief's hand; but just then, David and Edgar noticed the Winged Kuriboh floating by Jaden's head, trying to get the duelist back on his feet. "I activate," Jaden struggled to say, "Flute of Summoning... Kuriboh."

The card revealed itself and his Winged Kuriboh appeared on the field. "Now I discard two cards to activate... Transcendent Wings!"

"Too bad, I discard Gravekeeper's Watcher to the Graveyard to negate that card," as he placed the card in his graveyard, Gravekeeper's Watcher appeared on Jaden's side of the field, stopping the effect of Transcendent Wings and his Chief destroyed his Kuriboh. "So, you have a Duel Spirit."

Even though Jaden was still woozy from that last attack, he was still shocked from what he said. "Y-You can see him?"

David chuckled. "Everyone in Duel City has their own Duel Spirit. If you paid close enough attention, you can see mine and Edgar's."

Jaden squinted his eyes, just realizing the transparent Gravekeeper's Chief standing behind him, from there he looked over at Edgar to see the transparent Red Eyes Black Dragon overlooking him. "I-I see them."

"I hope after you lose this match you will be more willing to notice the things around you," David snapped back. "But because of your Kuriboh's effect, I will then place one card face down and end my turn."

"Th-This match, i-isn't over y-yet," Jaden replied as he drew his card. "So, why doesn't he have a Gravekeeper Duel Spirit," he asked, pointing at Edgar.

"Because I'm not a member of the Gravekeeper's," Edgar replied. "I'm a member of the Dragon Gang, and the reason I hate the Heroes is because they keep interfering with my gang's actions every now and again."

"But I don't hate the Hero Gang," David added, "I just hate you. The Hero Gang members train hard in both their dueling and their studies, taking their position seriously. Earning the respect of the people around them and protecting the innocent from the gang activity that goes on everyday. But your actions and your lack of caring just defiles everything they stand for. I can not let that pass."

"B-but, I thought all gangs besides the Hero Gang and the ones with them were bad," Jaden said.

"Once again, your lack of intelligence infuriates me" David replied in an annoyed tone, "the Gravekeeper's are a null gang, neither good nor evil. If we see someone getting attack, we won't go out of our way to save them, unless for the right price."

Jaden shook off the woozy feeling he felt. "How can you be so heartless?"

"I'm not heartless at all, it's just business. So make your move already."

Jaden looked at his hand, not too sure if he can pull off this next move. "I summon, Elemental Hero Bubbleman to the field," he announced as his monster formed. "Now I can draw two cards from my deck."

He pulled out his two cards. "Now I activate Pot of Greed, drawing two more cards," he drew his other two cards, "Now I activate my Field Card, Fusion Gate!"

The field around them designated and formed the parallel world. "Now with this Field card, all of your monsters lose their additional attack points and I get the use of my graveyard back."

All of David's monsters returned to their normal attack points. "Now I play Monster Reborn, bringing back Elemental Hero Avian," his monster appeared on the field, "now I play, Monster Reincarnation, discarding Hero Kid to my graveyard to bring back Elemental Hero Sparkman to my hand. There I use the ability of my field, fusing Avian and Burstinatrix to summon, Elemental Hero Flare Wingman. Then I fuse Sparkman to summon Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman!"

The blinding light of hope formed in the air, but all David did was grin. "It feels so good to remove the little hope a fool has, because I activate, Bottomless Trap Hole!"

Below Jaden's new monster, a hole formed, using a vacuum to suck it in and disappeared. Jaden couldn't believe his eyes; after all that he did it was gone in a matter of seconds. David and Edgar both laughed at the expression on his face. "So, are you going to do anything else?" David asked.

Jaden nodded. "I fuse Bubbleman with my Clayman to summon, Elemental Mudball Man in defense mode."

Then the creature formed on his field in defense mode of 3000. "I will now end my turn."

"It is always said a fool holds onto any shred of hope," David commented, drawing only one card. "Because I now summon Gravekeeper's Cannonholder."

His monster summoned to the field with 1400 attack points, holding a large cannon over his shoulder. "Now this Gravekeeper of mine has a very special ability, by sacrificing a Gravekeeper I can directly damage your life points by 700. Now, even though I doubt you can do basic mathematics, what do you think will happen if I sacrifice three monsters for its effect?"

Jaden looked at his fingers. "A lot."

David shook his head. "2100 direct damage! So now I sacrifice Gravekeeper's Spy, Spear Soldier and Chief, to activate my Cannonholder's effect," the three monsters formed into balls of yellow energy and loaded into the cannon, "FIRE!"

The large beam of energy passed right through Mudball Man and struck right at Jaden's chest, causing his life points to drop to 300. Edgar laughed. "Oh, this is gonna hurt."

Sparks once again flew on his cuff, sending a charge stronger then the previous two through his body. Jaden fell to his knees, his hair starting to smoke, his uniform chard and smoking as well. "Oh, but don't think I'm done just yet," David smirked.

Jaden used what little strength he had left, moving his head to look at David. "You haven't forgotten about the three face down cards I put down at the start of this duel, have you."

Jaden's body wouldn't stop shaking, the pain in his body nearly unbearable. Unable to speak the only thing that came out of his mouth was a small groan.

"Well, now I will reveal them, all three being the trap card, Rite of Spirits!" the cards revealed themselves. "Now this is one of my favorite trap cards, because each one can bring back one Gravekeeper from my graveyard. Come back, Chief, Spy and Spear Soldier."

The trap cards disappeared as the monsters reform back on his field. "Now, I sacrifice them once again to activate my Cannonholder's effect. This is what I call, Overkill!"

Spy, Spear Soldier and Chief changed into yellow balls of energy and entered his cannon. "Now, finish him!"

Cannonholder fired right at Jaden, causing his life points to drop to 0 yet the attack continued a few seconds after. Sparks flew around his cuff and gave him one heck of a shock, causing him to collapse on the ground, barely able to breathe. Edgar chuckled. "I might have forgotten to mention the bonus shock you get for losing," he grinned, "sorry."

The cuff detached off of the duelists as the projections disappeared. Then the two gang members walked over to Jaden, unable to move his body on account of the pain. Edgar picked up the cuff, letting out a chuckle. "What a wuss, can't even take a few jolts. He would be dead if he ever came to Duel City."

"And he couldn't even hit my life points, he must have cheated his way into this tournament like I originally suspected," David replied.

Jaden wanted to fight back, but all he could let out was a groan. His body wasn't responding to any he wanted it to do. But then, Edgar picked up Jaden by the collar on the front of his uniform and grinned. "Now, can I have my fun, David?"

David chuckled. "I already did what I had to do, you can do what ever you want. It's none of my concern."

Through Jaden's blurry vision, he could see Edgar's sinister grin form on his face. "Well, since the Heroes at Duel City are like the police, if I ever physically abused one of them I could get in serious trouble. So, you will have to do."

And with that, Edgar used his free hand to uppercut Jaden right in the gut, Jaden cough up from the pain. "Oh yeah, this feels really good."

After that, he knees him in the stomach and throws him hard on the ground while David just watched from afar. Edgar then kicked the Hero Duelist in the sides over and over again, the pain in his body so strong Jaden couldn't even pull up enough strength to defend himself.

After a while of this, Edgar bent down and pulled Jaden's deck out of his duel disk. "Nothing is more pleasing, then the look on the person's face as I rip up their cards, one by one."

Jaden's eyes went wide as Edgar revealed Avian to him, water formed at the bottom of Jaden's eyes as Edgar placed his fingers at the middle. But right before he ripped it, a voice called out. "What the heck is going on here?"

The two looked over to see Alexis, a shocked look formed on her face as she realized the pain Jaden was in. "What did you do to him."

David approached her. "Please walk along, Miss. Rhodes. This does not concern you."

"If one of my friends is in trouble, it is my business," she declared.

Edgar then threw the cards over Jaden's face and approached her, reverting back to his dazed expression. "Oh my queen, you look even more beautiful when you're angry."

David slapped his forehead. "Well, we better get going. That worthless duelist has already taken up enough of my time; not to mention there is a Fusion Card test tomorrow I need to study for."

David walked off, pulling Edgar by the arm. "Not yet, David. Let me stay in the presents of the Queen," he boosted.

After the two walked off she ran over to Jaden, brushing off the cards around his body. "Oh my gosh, Jaden. What happened to you?" she asked in shock, but all she could get out of him was a groan.

But as the two gang members walked off to their dorm, Edgar asked. "So, when are you going to have Jaden expelled?"

"I believe he has had enough suffering for now, but I would love to see him lose in this tournament as well."

Edgar chuckled. "Yeah, now that will be fun to watch."

To Be Continued

Read and Review.


	9. An offer

To My fans that also read my Code Lyoko, Ben 10 and Pokemon ff. I am sorry it is taking so long for me to update those, at the moment I just don't what to write. I will update them as soon as I can, thanks for your patience.

Chapter 9: An offer

The next day, the group sat around the hospital bed Jaden was currently resting on. The monitors could be heard beeping to his heart rate over the tears being held back by Syrus.

The nurse walked in. "Is he going to be alright, doc?" Syrus asked.

She gave him a smile and nodded. "He should be back on his feet in a few days but I recommend he doesn't duel for at least a week. He is sure lucky to take that kind of abuse and come out with only a few bruises."

Syrus exhaled a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear, will he be able to duel in the tournament still?"

She nodded once again. "But for now he needs his rest. So run along."

They walked off as Alexis put her hand on the small one's shoulder. "Don't worry, Sy. If I know Jaden, it will take a lot more than that to keep him down."

He looked up and smile. "Yeah, he will probably be dueling in half the time the doctor said."

"Miss. Rhodes," a voice called out, causing the small group to turn around and see David leaning his back to the wall, "may I speak with you, in private."

A dark expression appeared on her face as she looked at him, remembering what he did just last night. "Fine," she groaned, "save me a seat in class you guys."

"Sure," they all replied, walking to class as she walked up to David.

"Look, I don't approve of squealing; so I won't tell anyone what happened last night," she replied through her teeth as she looked down at him, her hands curling into fists.

"That is good to know, but that is not why I wanted to talk to you," David replied calmly; his back still against the wall, his head down and his eyes closed.

"What then?" she asked harshly.

David pulled his back away from the wall and looked up at the Queen of Duel Academy. "First of all, you need to calm yourself or you won't think clearly. Because I am giving you an once-in-a-lifetime chance and I don't want to see you blow it away."

She took in a deep breath and exhaled. "What is it?"

"That's better. Right now, out of the fifteen hundred students that are currently residing at this school, two-hundred and sixty-three of them work for me and currently growing by the day."

She seemed to be shocked from what he just said. "What do you mean, work for you?"

He chuckled. "I am the Leader of the Gravekeeper's Gang in Duel city," her eyes went wide from that statement, "and at this moment, I'm taking advantage of this School Duel to expand my gang outside Duel City. Now, where you come in; from my sources you are not only a highly accomplished duelist and a straight A student, you are a determined person who is focused and strong where it counts."

"So, what are you trying to say," she asked defensively.

"I would like for you, to be my second in command; then when I head back to Duel City, to take this area over in my place, as Leader of the Gravekeeper's at Duel Academy."

Interested, but still doubtful she asked. "Why would I want to do something like that?"

"Because, my gang has nearly unlimited resources and sources, meaning once you graduate you can get invited to anything your heart desires. You would be surprised of how many strings my gang can pull; not to mention being the Leader of the Gravekeeper's gives you complete control of what goes on. You will literally be, Queen of Duel Academy."

She shook her head. "Sorry, but I'm not interested. I just want to duel."

"Oh please, don't give me your answer just yet. I will give you one month to make up your mind. But I must warn you if you say no..."

"What," she snapped, "you will do to me what you did to Jaden?"

David seemed to be shocked from that accusation. "What do you take me for?" he asked harshly, standing up to the tall beauty, "I am the Leader of the Gravekeeper's not the Fiends, I would never force someone to work for my gang against their will. If I did, the people would never uphold the honor and integrity of the Gravekeeper's and from there will become corrupted by its own power."

She seemed to look shock from his outburst. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to disrespect you like that."

He calmed down as he fixed the collar of his uniform. "Well, back to what I was saying, I must warn you for saying no, because you will be giving up a great chance to excel your skill and name, even before you leave this academy. I would hate to see that happen to someone of your skill. So please, think it over. But for now, head to class."

"Aren't you coming?" she asked.

He nodded. "I will be there shortly; I just need to talk with someone first."

She then headed off to class as David said. "I know you're there, Edgar."

Edgar then stepped out of the shadows, chucking. "Even with a vacation you still can't get work off the brain, can you?"

"This island is one of the main circuits for large shipments by boats; this place is perfect for my gang to grow," David replied, walking off to class as Edgar followed.

"Not to mention you trying to recruit, the Queen."

"With her intelligence she would be a great addition to my gang, unlike you that would only want her for her looks."

Edgar chuckled again. "You got me there, buddy. She is a nice piece of scenery. But I'm also guessing that's why you want her, at a lesser extent."

"Her looks would be of a good business asset, attracting more willing members to my Gang."

Edgar exhaled. "You know, buddy; I really need to get you on a real vacation one of these days," his face then turned to a dazed stated with a dumbfounded stare, "one with lots of girls in two piece swimsuits."

David exhaled. "That's your idea of your vacation, isn't it?"

Edgar slapped David on the back. "You got me again, buddy," he placed his hand on David's shoulder and extended his other arm out in front, moving it as he said, "beauties as far as the eyes can see."

"You know, there is a beach on this Island."

Edgar stood in front of his friend, bending down to look him in the eyes and shook him by his shoulders. "Dude, why didn't you tell me before?!"

* * *

Later that day in the Obelisk Cafeteria, Alexis moved the food around on her plate as her friends: Jasmine and Mindy, chattered away about boys.

"Lexi," Mindy asked, causing her friend to snap out of her daze, "are you alright?"

Alexis shook her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. What's up?"

Out of nowhere, Alexis was hugged from behind. "It's probably because Jaden is still asleep from that nasty accident," Sword Hunter replied in a childish sad tone. "Now, deep in thought of how she can go on, knowing her crush is injured."

"I told you already, Sword Hunter; I don't have a crush on Jaden. Now will you let go of me," Alexis snapped, trying to get out of the girl's grip.

Sword Hunter released the duelist and giggled. "Darn, and I thought I got that one right. But you know," she said slyly, leaning down and whispering, "with him in that condition, you can take complete advantage of his body and he won't remember a thing. I was just over there a minute ago."

Alexis's eyes went wide from that statement and her face turned bright red. "What did you do?!"

Sword Hunter giggled, pulling out a duel deck and a black marker, smiling at the girl. "I just took his duel deck and drew on his face," Alexis's expression relaxed, "why, what did you think I did?"

"Never mind, but why did you take his duel deck?"

Sword Hunter then gave Alexis Jaden's deck. "Because, you never know who would steal his cards. But who better to look over it then the one who has a crush on him."

"For the last time..." Alexis replied angrily but was cut off.

"But from that duel against Harrington last year, didn't Jaden become your fiancé?" Mindy asked.

"But Mindy, remember Jaden didn't know what fiancé meant," Jasmine replied.

Sword Hunter's sly grin grew wider. "Oh how heartbreaking that sounds; I bet your heart snapped in two when he asked what it meant instead of getting down on one knee, taking your by the hand and pleading his eternal love for you."

Alexis then stood up with her tray in her hands. "I will be in my room."

She walked off and Sword Hunter took her seat. "So, what other stories do you have about those two? I am all ears."

* * *

Alexis took off her shoes at the entrance, set down Jaden's deck on her desk and collapsed, face first, on her bed. She then roles on her back; not only did she have to be tormented by a non-existent relationship but a job offer as well. She could tell this just wasn't her day.

To Be Continued

Does she have feelings for the bonehead of a hero, will she accept David's offer? Read and review to find out.


	10. The wrath of Sins

Chapter 10: The wrath of Sins

Inside the room of David and Edgars, Edgar was completely dumbfounded as he looked at David reading a text book. "Dude, it is so freaken obvious, your second in command at Duel City has a crush on you."

David's eyes would scan the lines, not even acknowledging Edgar. "How did the conversation go from how Union cards work to my personal life?"

Edgar had a sweat drop appear on his face then shook it off. "That's beside the point, haven't you noticed?"

"What you are saying is completely observed, we are gang members and nothing more," David replied in a monotone voice, still scanning the lines of his book.

"Dude, she blushes every time you compliment her. If you ask me you two would probably make a nice couple."

David exhaled. "Get back to studying already."

Edgar fell back on his bed. "You're no fun you know that."

Just then, David's cell phone started to ring, he answered. "Yes?"

"This is Guard 23, the Vlad student Bloodlust is requesting a moment to speak with you. How should he be dealt with?"

"I have wanted to chat with him as well, send him up and treat him as if he was a guest," David replied.

"It will be done my Chief," the guard replied, hanging up.

"The Gravekeeper's are growing," Edgar commented.

Then, their dorm room door opened and Bloodlust approached the leader of the Gravekeeper's, bowing. "It is an honor to meet someone of your power and rank, Chief David, Leader of the Gravekeeper's Gang of Duel City," Bloodlust said in a smug tone.

"And I thought a vampire needed to be invited inside before he could walk into a room," David replied with a grin on his face.

Bloodlust stood back up, chuckling to reveal the fangs in his mouth. "So, you know my title. Your gang is everything I heard it was."

"Glad to hear that," David commented, "it wasn't hard to discover your Porphyria, needing a steady flow of blood to keep your body from shriveling up. If you want something to drink, check out the fridge."

Bloodlust was a bit curious, so he walked over to their small fridge and opened it, seeing a bag full of red liquid. "AB negative, you've known I was coming," he pulled out the bag and begun to drink it, which caused Edgar to shiver, "because this is my favorite."

"Well my gang has noticed that you have had your eye on Miss. Alexis Rhodes, and something tells me that you have wanted to chat with me because of her," David replied.

Bloodlust nodded. "Yes, it has come to my knowledge that your gang is protecting her at the moment, even though she isn't apart of your gang. Now, why is that?"

"Because I gave her a month to decide if she wants to be a high ranking gang member; it is up to her. So if she decides to become a member of my gang, my gang members will do what ever they can to protect her; but if she choices not to join, she is all yours. Now until then, please postpone your urges to have her as a snack."

Bloodlust finished the bag. "If the Gravekeeper's are protecting her, I wouldn't think of it. I'm not suicidal."

"Well, since we have come to an understanding, you might want to get ready tomorrow; because you have a match against Nicole Smalls."

Bloodlust threw the empty bag into the trash bin. "Thanks for the info; I will put it to good use."

He then left the room. As soon as the door closed behind the dark duelist, Edgar said. "I'm glad I'm the Dragon Gang leader, nothing but getting "protection" money and beating want-a-be duelist. It's just so less complicated."

* * *

The next day came as Jaden finally woke up in his hospital bed, rubbing his hair and sees himself in the mirror, now having a marker mustache and monocle lens. "Why do I look like Captain Crunch?"

"It's good to see you're finally awake," Jaden looked over to see the female doctor smiling at him, "I was starting to worry."

"What time is it?" Jaden asked.

"Almost three in the afternoon; you have been asleep for about two days. What timing to get up today," she replied, writing down on the clipboard in her arm.

He rubbed his head. "Why is that?"

"Because it five minutes, the fourth tournament match is going to start; you better get ready if you want to catch it."

He still felt a bit groggy but gathered enough energy to slip his shoes back on. "Thanks," he replied, but not with as much energy as his usual self.

* * *

He headed out the door and down the halls to the stadium; ever since he woke up he hasn't felt like his usual carefree energetic self. Nothing but what David said swarmed his thoughts; saying how he must have cheated his way in, that there was no way he could have gotten in on his skill level. He walked into the stadium, but before he could look for his friends, the lights already dimmed and the lights appeared on Dr. Crowler.

"Welcome all to the fourth match of the first round to the Ultimate School Duel. Let's hear it for the competitors: on my left, all the way from Vlad Duel Academy, Bloodlust."

The dark duelist walked out from the shadows into the light, getting applause from some of the audience and sending chills to the others.

"And on my right, the student from Klein Duel Academy, Nicole Smalls," he announced as the girl appeared from the shadows, waving to the crowd and hearing the applause.

Dr. Crowler faced the two students. "Now you both know the rules, exchange decks and shuffle."

The two complied, changing decks and shuffling them in their own way; afterwards, handing them back to each other and walking to their spots. "And, begin!"

"Let's Duel!" they both called out.

Nicole drew a card. "I play the spell card, Summoning of Light!" she played and it appeared on the field, "now I put one 4 star monster from my hand to the graveyard to special summon a level 4 light monster to the field, and I play, Green Fairy in attack mode."

Then on the field, a fairy in a green dress appeared with 1200 attack points. "Now I play the magic card, Separate Colors, which allows me to sacrifice my Green Fairy to summon Blue Fairy and Yellow Fairy in attack mode."

Then on the field, the Green Fairy was sacrificed to summon Yellow Fairy and Blue Fairy in its place. "Now, I sacrifice both of my fairies to summon, Wingweaver in attack mode."

Then in the two's place, a human size fairy with six wings appeared; causing all of the audience to be in awed by its beauty and 2750 attack points. "With that, I end my turn."

Bloodlust smirked. "Nicely played, getting a monster with such high attack points on the first move. Too bad, it will all be for a disappointment."

"Just make your turn already," Nicole snapped back.

He chuckled. "If that is what you want," he drew and looked at his hand. "The first card I play is the spell card, 7 Sins: Sloth," he played, "now this card, not only takes 1000 life points from you, but gives them to me."

She then squirms from her life points dropping to 3000 and his raising to 5000. "Now my next trick, I play the spell card, 7 Sins: Wrath. This card let's one of my monsters attack your life points directly, but since I don't have a monster, it looks as if this card is automatically destroyed."

The spell card shattered and everyone watching was confused, except for his group. "He is up to his old tricks," TNT commented.

"Next I play the spell card, 7 Sins: Sloth. This card forces your monster to switch into defense and cannot be used as a sacrifice for 3 turns."

Nicole grinded her teeth as her fairy switched to 2400 defense. "Oh and now I play the monster, Skull Servant in defense and play the spell card, 7 Sins: Pride. This card allows me to choose one card on the field at raise its attack power by double, and I chose, Wingweaver."

This action once again shocked everyone in the audience; even Nicole was shocked as her monsters attack rose to 5500. "What the heck are you up to?" Nicole yelled.

"You will find out very soon," Bloodlust added. "I now play the last card in my hand, the spell, 7 Sins: Envy. See, I'm a bit envious that you have more cards than I do now, so by paying 200 for ever card in your hand, I'm allowed to draw till I have as many as you."

Then his life points dropped to 4600 as he drew two cards. "Now I play Pot of Greed, drawing two more cards," he then drew two more cards and rose to 3 cards. Now I play the spell card, 7 Sins: Greed. With this card, I'm allowed to look at your hand and pick one of them at the price of 300 life points per cared in your hand, so show me your hand," he says as his life points drops to 4000.

She grinded her teeth, showing a Swords of Revealing light and a Fairy Prism, she automatically knew which one he was going to pick. "I will take, Fairy Prism."

She was shocked once again, wondering what the heck he could be thinking, she threw the card and he caught it. "Well to bad for you, because next turn I will paralyze your side for three turns."

He chuckled. "Sorry, there won't be a next turn, because I play the spell, 7 Sins: Lust. This card forces your monster into attack mode and attack my monster of my choosing, but since Skull Servant is the only monster on my field, destroy it."

Her monster switched back into attack mode, still shocked since her monster was still at 5500. Then it shot a blinding light at his monster, obliterating it which caused the stadium to shake. "Now the side effect of my Pride card kicks in, your monster is automatically destroyed."

She gasped as her Wingweaver exploded before her eyes. "But now, my plan kicks into action. You see all 7 of the 7 Sin spell cards are in my graveyard, this activates their effect, special summoning from my deck my most powerful monster, Lord!"

He played the monster card on his duel disk and the stadium started to shake as the creature formed on the field, a creature bigger than any monster they have ever seen. Formed out of shadows, large arms and legs, and a humongous black skull as the head; this combined with its 4000 attack had the audience speechless. "And if I was still keeping tracked, this was still a battle phase. So my Lord, annialate her!"

The monster looked at her with its large red eyes seen through the skull, she stepped back. The creature raised its arm and swiped at her, causing her life points to drop to zero.

Everyone was shocked, the match was a bit long but it was only one turn. Crowler stood there dumbfounded. "The winner is, Bloodlust of Vlad Duel Academy."

Jaden couldn't believe it; a duelist was able to beat another in one turn. Was David right, was he just lucky all of this time; was he the duelist he thought he was or just a show off that was lucky in a few matches. There he walked out of the room, unaware of Alexis's friend Mindy watching him leave.

She flipped open her cell phone and hit the first one on her speed dial. "My Chief, just like you thought. He is leaving."

"Thank you Spy 1; I will have the Watcher's watch him from now on, so return to looking over Alexis's safety. Make sure she makes the right decision."

"It will be done, my Chief," she replied, turning off her cell.

To Be Continued

Sorry for the wait, will be updating soon.


	11. The missing Jaden

Chapter 11: The missing Jaden

"Alexis!" the shrill cry of Syrus's voice broke through the air of that tranquil morning, "Jaden is missing!"

Alexis was dumbfounded. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, he never came to the dorm last night and if he did he never wakes up before me," then his tone started to turn from scared to annoyed, "which then in-turn makes me have to wake him up and then he is gone before he makes his bed, so again I have..."

"Alright I get it," the queen of Obelisk replied to calm down the Ra student, "I will find Bastian and see if he knows where he is. You keep looking in the mean time. Check the card shop."

Syrus nodded and ran off; causing Alexis to turn to run down the hall, only to be stopped by the Leader of the Gravekeeper's himself. "Even in times of desperation and chaos, you managed to keep a cool head and devise a plan. Once again, you have proved to me that you would make a great Leader of this Branch of my Gang, Miss. Rhodes."

"I'm still not interested in joining the Gravekeeper's, David. But if I find out your Gang had something to do with Jaden's disappearance, I swear I will..."

But she was cut off by David's chuckling. "Oh don't worry about that, Miss. Rhodes; I can assure you that my Gang has done nothing of the sort. Besides," a dark grin crept along his face, "if we did do anything to him, we wouldn't hide it."

This started the Queen of Duel Academy. "But," he added, "I can also assure you that my Gang could easily find him even if he has left this island. If you do ever consider joining, they will be at your command. You still have time before the month's end to make up your mind."

There he walked off, leaving Alexis standing in her place; wondering if she should join his Gang. But shook it off and headed down the hallways of the school to find Bastian.

* * *

David then walked past a few of the Obelisk students as they handed him a piece of paper. As he continued to walk he read it, stating that Jaden is in the forest. "Good job my Watchers," he said to himself.

* * *

Throughout class, Jaden's friends couldn't focus on the studies at hand, only distracted by thoughts and constant worry of their dear energetic friend.

But then, Chancellor Sheppard appeared on the screen for an announcement. "Well students of Duel Academy and guest; I hope so far everyone has enjoyed this Ultimate School Duel. But because time is still a factor, to finish up the first round, today we will have two matches at the same time. The matches will be Kristen Judo of Ad Tech Duel Academy VS Twister of Underwater Duel Academy, and Fredi Heat of Ad Tech High Duel Academy VS Jaden Yuki of our own Duel Academy."

"No fair!" Reality called out, "I don't get to duel in the first round!"

"I hope these will be great matches today, so head to the auditorium as soon as class is over."

The screen turned off. _Jaden better be back by the time the match starts,_ Alexis thought.

* * *

But all Jaden did was walk, lifelessly through the forest. Flashbacks of that match against David kept flooding his mind; depression consumed his cheery personality in darkness and grief. _What if I'm not the duelist I thought I was; dueling is my life. Did I save the world on just pure luck? But if I'm not the duelist I thought I was, what am I? Who am I?_

Then any other flash of memory struck his mind; his body to weak to move from the pain with his Avian dangling in front of him, about to be ripped to shreds where there was nothing he could do, to protect his friend. Not to mention ever since that duel, he hasn't been able to even see Duel Spirits.

This darkness never left him along; because the first time in his life, he didn't know what to do.

* * *

Before the students knew it, their classes were already over and they all waited in the auditorium, overcome with excitement and the room filled with chit chat over the news of the two duels.

The three duelists stood in the middle, still impatiently waiting on the fourth.

Slowly the audience's chitchat started to turn ranting; since it has already been past five minutes since the duel was originally supposed to start. Syrus was staring at the entrance, hoping that his carefree friend would run in at the last minute like last year as Alexis just rested in her chair as Bastian just sat down next to her. "I couldn't find anything, he just disappeared. Not even the other Gravekeeper's will inform me on his whereabouts."

Alexis was shocked. "Don't tell me, you're in that Gang."

"Why not? That Gang fits in perfectly with my calculating skills so I have the position of Vassal 1; which also makes me the head of the Vassal division. But at the moment only the Watchers and my Chief know where he is and they are keeping it as highly classified information. Not even the Assailants know anything which is extremely rare. But my Chief knows best."

"Well I don't know what any of that meant, but he better show up soon. I don't know how much longer Dr. Crowler will be able to keep this crowd waiting."

* * *

Down on the platform, Dr. Crowler grinded his teeth. _That Slacker takes the meaning of that word to a whole new level. But it looks like I have no choice, _he thought as he raised his hand in the air. "I'm sorry to say, but because of Jaden Yuki's absence, I am going to have to call it a default and declare Fredi Heat the victory of that match!"

The audience burst in an uproar as Edgar and David could only chuckle to this action.

Crowler was then bombarded by airborne trash; dodging everything thrown until a duel disk hit him upside the head. "Alright! Who threw that?!"

After a few minutes, Dr. Crowler was able to regain control of the audience. "But now, there will only be the duel between Kristen Judo of Ad Tech Duel Academy VS Twister of Underwater Duel academy," he announced as Fredi walked off the stage and the two girls waved to the crowed.

"Now you two know the rules, shuffle each other's deck," he ordered as the two walked to the middle of the stage, shuffled each other's decks and headed back to their sides. "Now ready, and begin!"

"Let's duel!" they announced as their life points started at 4000.

Kristen drew her sixth card. "I'll start," she looked at her hand. "I play the field spell card, Ninja Dojo," she announced as the field around them changed into the inside of a Dojo. "Now I summon, Lady Ninja Yae in attack mode."

The green hair ninja appeared before her with 1100 attack points. "Now for the special effect of the Dojo, by sacrificing half of a monster's attack points with Ninja in its name, I can attack your life points directly and count it as effect damage."

Her monster's attack points dropped to 550. "Now Yae, attack her life points directly!"

The ninja jumped into the air, vanishing before the viewer's eyes only to reappear behind Twister and attack, causing her life points to drop to 3450.

"I will place one card face down and end my turn," Kristen added, placing a magic or trap card on the field.

Twister drew her card. "Don't think that you will win because you got a head start, because I summon to the field, Harpie Lady #1 on the field in attack mode," she announced as the winged beast was summoned to the field. "Now this monster of mine has an effect, which increases the attack of all wind attribute monsters by 300."

Kristen's monster rose to 1400 as Twister's monster rose to 1600. "Now my Harpie, destroy that ninja of hers with cyber slash!"

"I activate my trap card, Ninja Smokescreen," she revealed the trap card, "by removing one monster on my side of the field, with Ninja in the name, to the remove from play for one turn; I get to negate the attack of one of your monsters."

Then Kristen's Lady Ninja Yae threw a pellet to the ground, causing a smoke to appear around the arena and engulf the attacking Harpie Lady. But as it disappeared, the ninja is gone and the Harpie is baffled. "I then end my turn."

Kristen drew her card. "Now my Lady Ninja Yae returns to the field in attack mode. After that I set one monster on the field, face down, and then use my field's ability; sacrificing half of my Ninja's attack points to directly damage your life points."

Lady Ninja Yae this time went to 700 and disappeared, reappearing in front of Twister and attacking, causing her life points to drop to 2750. "I will end my turn."

Twister drew her card. "Well don't think your monster's flip effect will work, because I summon, Harpie Lady #2," she announced as the second Harpie Lady appeared on the field. "Now, just like my first Harpie, this one has a special ability as well, canceling out the flip effect of a monster it attacks."

Kristen was shocked as Twister launched the attack, destroying her face down Night Assailant. "Now Harpie Lady #1; attack her ninja with Cyber Slash!"

Her monster jumped into the air and came down on the ninja with its claws out, slashing it and causing Kristen's life points to drop to 3800. "Let's see you recover from that. I play one card face down and end my turn."

Kristen drew. "I play, Pot of Greed, drawing two cards."

She drew her cards and examined her hand. "I summon Ninja Grandmaster Sasuke," she announced, playing the 1800 attack power monster on the field, "now I also play the spell card, Monster Reborn, Summoning back to the field Lady Ninja Yae."

Then the two ninja's stood before the duelist. "Now I play the equipment spell card, Fuhma Shuriken. This card only equips to a monster with Ninja in its name, raising its attack by 700, so I equip it to my Lady Ninja Yae."

The two throwing stairs appeared in her hands, raising its attack to 2100. "Now Lady Ninja Yae, attack Harpie Lady #2 with Fuhma Shuriken!"

Her monster jumped into the air, throwing the stars at the creature.

"Nice try, but I activate my trap card, Mirror Wall!" she countered, revealing her trap which caused a reflecting wall to appear before her monsters.

The throwing stars collided with the mirror and reflected right back at the female ninja, reducing its attack to 1050. "My wall protects my monsters and reduces your attacks to half; so don't even try!"

Kristen couldn't help but grind her teeth at this obstacle. "Then I use my field's special ability, sacrificing half of my Grandmaster Sasuke's attack."

Her white ninja's attack dropped to 900 and disappeared, bypassing the wall and striking Twister, causing her life points to drop to 1850. "I then end my turn."

Twister drew her card and shot the duelist from Ad Tech Duel Academy a smug grin. "Well because I don't have enough life points to tribute, my Mirror Wall is shattered."

The wall broke before their eyes. "But now, I play the spell card Cost Down, decreasing the level of the cards in my hand by two. So now I can sacrifice Harpie Lady #2, to summon Harpie's Pet Dragon!"

The auditorium shook as a fireball formed on the field, forming the large creature with 2000 attack points. "Now, he gains attack not just because he is a wind type, but gains an extra 500 attack points for every Harpie Lady on the field, making it 2800!"

The attack then rose from 2000 to 2800. "Now my pet, attack her Lady Ninja with Fire Blast!"

From inside of its mouth, flames shot directly at her creature; incinerating it within the fire which caused Kristen's life points to drop down to 2050. "Because you destroyed my Lady Ninja, which was equipped with Fuhma Shuriken, you lose 700 life points," Kristen stated.

Twister's life points dropped down to 1150. "Well, your going to hate this, because I activate the spell card, Redo. By discarding three cards from my hand, I get to have a second battle phase with only one attack. So my Dragon, have another snack."

It shot flames at her Grandmaster Ninja, destroying it; costing her life points to drop to 1150 as well. "I will end my turn."

Kristen drew her card and stared up at the large dragon, she knew by next turn Twister would just summon another Harpie Lady and increase its attack again. So she had to end the duel as soon as possible to have a chance at victory.

"I will now play, Strike Ninja in attack mode," she announced as the dark ninja appeared on the field with 1700 attack. "Now I play another Fuhma Shuriken, increasing it to 2400."

"So what, even if you destroy my Harpie Lady my dragon will wipe it off the floor the next turn," Twister stated with a smug chuckle.

Kristen grind. "Who says I was attacking, or did you forget my field spell?"

Twister's eyes went wide. "That means I will lose 1200 life points!"

"Correct; now Strike Ninja, attack her life points directly!" Kristen announced; causing Strike Ninja's attack to drop down to 1200 and disappeared, reappearing above Twister to where he rained down throwing stars at the duelist, depleting the rest of the Underwater Duel Academy's student's life points.

The field cleared and Crowler announced. "And the winner of the final duel to the first round; Kristen Judo of Ad Tech Duel Academy!"

The students cheered, except for Twister who is throwing a fit, as Chancellor Shepard announced over the screen. "So far this Tournament has been running smoothly, Round 2 will be starting shortly so don't relax too much contenders."

_I just hope by the next match Jaden will return,_ David thought with a sinister grin, _it would be great to see him lose this tournament in an actual duel._

To Be Continued

Very soon, the next round will start. Who will be the first to be out of the tournament? Will Jaden make it back in time? And will Alexis join the Gravekeeper's? Read and review to find out.


	12. Rage of the Red Eyes

Chapter 12: Rage of the Red Eyes

David looked at his cards that were spread on his bed while looking at new cards in his hands, deeply focused on the cards and moving his other hand over the spread.

"Dang buddy," Edgar said as he walked through the door, holding a tray of food in his hand, "you still wondering what cards to take out so you can add? You haven't looked up from those cards since lunch; so swiped something for you to eat."

He set the tray on the table next to his friend's bed, but his attention never moved from his cards. "This kind of decision cannot be made lightly; one card out of place could declare victory or defeat."

Edgar fell back on his bed, cracking open his dust covered book on Ritual Cards 101. "Well what ever you say; but I think you are just too attached to your cards, your deck is already over 50 cards."

"And how can I not be?" he replied in a calm tone, about to lift one of the cards but set it back down, "each one of these cards has helped me, in their own way, to make me be who I am today. I cannot just disregard all they have done and toss them away to make room for something new."

"Alright, alright," Edgar replied, closing the book, "but you need to make some sacrifices before you have over 100 cards in your deck."

David groaned. "I know I know; but like you should talk. Don't forget what you did to the Leader of the Fish Gang after he insulted your Red Eyes two years ago."

Edgar revealed his sadistic grin and adding a dark chuckle. "Oh yeah," his cruel voice spoke, "has he gotten out of that coma yet?"

David shook his head, which only caused Edgar to chuckle more. "Awe, that's too bad," he stated sarcastically, "I was hoping to hear what he learned from our duel."

* * *

The news of the missing Jaden seems to have completely dried up around school. It has only been five days but it feels more like it is being covered up; an eerie feeling that ensnares his friends for every second of every day, especially when the people that should have known him, claimed to have never heard of him.

Alexis woke up to another day, getting herself ready for the classes. As she brushed her long hair in the mirror she looked down at the table, just realizing that she still has Jaden's deck.

She picked up the cards, spreading them in her hands while wondering why Jaden hasn't come back yet. But she had to get ready for class so she pocketed his deck and walked down to breakfast.

* * *

There her friends were sitting at the table as she sat down next to them. After a few minutes had past, all she would do was move the food around with her fork. "Hey Lexi, what's wrong?" her friend Mindy asked.

She exhaled. "Well, I'm just worried because no one has heard from or knows where Jaden is."

The two girls squealed excitedly. "Oh, do you have a boyfriend, Alexis?" Jasmine asked.

"Yes, please tell us; who is this Jaden?" Mindy asked.

Alexis was completely shocked. She looked at her friend's eyes wide with gleam and sounding sincere to their question. "What are you talking about? You know who Jaden is."

The two's eyes turned from gleam to confusion; looking at each other then back at the Queen of Obelisk Blue. "We... do?"

"You know, Jaden Yuki; energetic lazy duelist, he saved us all from the Shadow Riders, beat the Sacred Beasts," but the two girls just seemed to be more confused the more she spoke, "you were just talking to Sword Hunter about him being my fiancé."

They squealed again. "So he's your fiancé? Oh I hope we can meet him," Jasmine exclaimed.

"Because you are already engaged, is that the reason you don't date anyone?" Mindy asked.

Alexis shook her head in disbelief. "Never mind, forget I said anything."

"Well Lexi," Mindy added her two cents, "if what you say is true, about this Jaden; I bet there is a way to find him very easily."

A flash of memory came about David's offer, realizing with that position she could find him within seconds. But her train of thought was interrupted by Jasmine. "Yeah, like our transfer psychic."

The two girls looked at her strangely, but Mindy also added in her expression some aggression. "Transfer psychic?"

Jasmine nodded. "Yeah, that girl from Klein Duel Academy, Dawn Knight; she gives out free psychic readings. She told me that my true love is a man from a distant land bearing two faces."

The two girls looked at their boy crazed friend with belittlement. "Alright, how are you going to find a man with two faces?" Alexis asked.

"She told me when I see him I will know it."

Mindy shook her head. "Anyway, maybe there is another way to find out, Alexis; one that sounds more concrete and real," she said, looking over at her friend with hearts for eyes.

But before Alexis could give what Mindy said another thought, Jasmine grabbed her by the arm. "Come on, give it a try."

As she pulled her friend off against her will, Mindy slammed her fist on the table. "Darn, almost had her. I failed you my Chief, but I won't give up."

* * *

Jasmine pulled the queen over to Dawn's table, which at the same moment was giving a reading to another Obelisk. She pulled out a card from the deck and placed it on the table. "It is the Magician of Faith, this means great things are soon to happen to you."

The girl squealed in excitement. "Oh that is so cool; now can you tell me who I will fall in love with."

Dawn groaned, it seemed like that was all the girls at this school was interested in. So she spread the cards across the table, gliding her other hand over them till it stopped on the left side in the middle; picking it up to reveal to the girl The Trojan Horse. "This card means your true love will be someone you least suspect, probably a person that you have only thought of as, just a friend."

The girl squealed again. "Oh, I can't wait. Thank you very much."

The girl then gathered her cards and skipped away, just as Jasmine pushed up to her. "Dawn, I have another one for you," she stated, sitting her friend in front of the psychic.

"Well then," Dawn said, extending her hand, "let me have your deck."

Alexis pulled out her deck. "Why do you need my deck?"

"Because a person's deck is an extension of their body, mind, and soul; telling me all that I need to know about the person so I can give an accurate reading. So what is it that you need to know?"

She pulled out her deck and handed it to Dawn. As the psychic looked trough it, the Queen explained. After the story, she folded the cards up and handed back the deck. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

Alexis looked shocked. "Why not?"

"Because my gift only works if I am looking at the deck of the person you are talking about, I must be looking at his deck to do so."

A relieved expression graced the Queen's face, reaching into her pocket and pulling out Jaden's deck. "Here is his deck."

Dawn took the cards. "I see, I'm guessing he thinks of himself as a hero, doesn't he?"

"I'm also guessing you didn't need your gift to figure that out," Alexis replied, both sharing a giggle.

Dawn shuffled the deck and placed it in front of her. "Now, split the deck in half."

Alexis complied, splitting the deck in half. Then Dawn shuffled it and pulled out Wildheart. "This tells me that your friend is somewhere in the wilds, still on this island," this breathed a sign of relief from the queen as she pulled another card, revealing it to be Necroshade. "This isn't good."

Alexis's eyes went wide. "Does that mean, he is dead?"

Dawn shook her head. "No, that is not the case here, only if the card was inverted but this just means he is in a severe state of depression. He is trying to find himself."

"I see, but is there a way to find out how long it will take?"

Dawn drew another card, revealing it to be Winged Kuriboh, but inverted. "I'm sorry to say, but it looks as if he is nearly depleted of any hope. It will be up to him and him alone to find his inner strength."

Alexis then became depressed once again as Dawn spread the deck, gliding her hand over till it reached the middle card. Pulling out she revealed Burstinatrix. "Interesting."

Alexis sat up. "What?"

"There seems to be a small flame in his heart for a girl," she replied, causing Alexis to have a slight blush. "This girl has a strong will, even if she looks to have a fiery personality she stays calm under pressure. I also see he doesn't know how to express these feelings; yet if the one he cares for pays close enough attention, she will know."

Dawn then gathered up the deck and handed it back to her. "I hope that I was able to answer all of your questions."

She took the deck back. "Yeah, thanks."

* * *

It was announced earlier during class that the first match of the second round was starting today, facing off against Chazz and Edgar. So the auditorium was packed with eagerly awaiting students.

"Hey David," Edgar stated, "remember that innocent flower you dueled a while back?"

"Miss. Knight you mean?"

"Yeah, I found out she is a psychic and she told me that my true love will be a girl that has been lost for years in the forest of disappointment, oh I can't wait till I find that girl."

David slapped his forehead. "Don't tell me you actually believe in that stuff."

"Dude, we see spirits of our dueling cards; you would think that a psychic reading would be no bid deal."

David groaned. "You've got a point. But don't focus on that reading while in this duel; if you lose one more time you're disqualified."

"Yeah yeah, I know. Now find a seat for the show."

* * *

David walked up the steps to see that he has a seat saved for him. "My Chief, over here," Bastian called out.

He sat down in the seat. "Thank you, Vassal 1; how are the sells going?"

"The Soldier have started to distribute the goods, we are already making maximum profits."

"Excellent, I'm glad I have someone as capable as you to look over the funds," David replied.

Bastian smiled. "Thank you my Chief, it is an honor just to be a part of your gang. But I do have one question."

"What is it?"

"I do feel bad lying to Alexis about Jaden, why must we pretend he has never existed?"

David rubbed his chin. "Because she is still distracted by him to give my offer any true thought, why not use that to my advantage. She already knows that my gang can find him and if she was to join she could use that to find him. But if that doesn't work out, there is always a fate worse than death, and that is not existing in the first place; strange how easy it was to convince everyone, especially after he didn't show up for his duel."

* * *

The lights dimmed and Crowler appeared on the arena stage. "Welcome to the first duel of the second round of the Ultimate School Duel. Today we have on my right, our very own Chazz!"

Chazz walked out onto the platform. "Chazz it up!" he called, extending his arm in the air.

"Yes yes, now on my left, all the way from Duel City Academy; Edgar Knight!"

Then Edgar walked out onto the field, waving to the crowd with his signature dumbfounded smile. They shuffled each other's deck and readied themselves. "Now, begin!"

"Let's duel!" they both called out, drawing their five cards.

Chazz drew his sixth card. "For my first move, I play Masked Dragon in defense mode!" he announced, summoning the dragon to the field, "and I end my turn."

"A fellow dragon duelist, sweet," Edgar replied, drawing his sixth card, but as he looked at his cards, they started to blur. "What is going on?"

His eyes started to focus as the cards images changed to Sword Hunter. "Oh come on, big boy; pick me."

"No, pick me, we can have lots of fun," another image said.

His face then turned into a daze, not knowing which one to pick as up in the stands, Sword Hunter was giggling. "Well, it looks like Edgar just found out what happens when someone loses to me."

Edgar then pulled a card from his hand and summoned Baby Dragon; this caused whispering in the crowd. "This is strange," David commented.

"What is it my Chief?' Bastian asked.

"Even though Edgar is a goofball that was pathetic for an opening move, something must be wrong."

Back in the duel, Edgar ordered his dragon to attack, destroying the Mask Dragon. "Well, you activated my dragon's special ability, special summoning Armed Dragon LV3 from my deck to the field in attack mode."

"Then I end turn," Edgar replied, still in a dazed state.

"The Chazz is going to wipe the floor with you," he announced, drawing his card, "because now I use my dragon's special ability, sacrificing my LV3 for Armed Dragon LV5!"

The giant dragon formed onto the field in place of the smaller one, baring its claws and 2400 attack points. "Now I tribute a monster from my hand to use its effect, destroying your monster with, Spike Missile Barrage!"

From there, the spikes from his dragon launched, annihilating Edgar's Baby Dragon. "Now Armed Dragon, attack Edgar with your mighty slash!" Chazz commanded, having his monster slash Edgar and causing his life points to drop to 1600.

Sword Hunter giggled. "This won't be long."

The damage Edgar took, he somewhat got out of his daze. "What is going on with me?" Edgar thought aloud.

"I will now end my turn."

Edgar drew his next card, but once again as he looked at his hand all he could see what Sword Hunter. "Awe, I hope you are ok. Wouldn't want a duelist as strong as you to get hurt."

"So pick me, I will help you get back at that want-a-be," another Sword Hunter replied.

He went into a dazed state, but shook it off. _No, this isn't real. Come my dragons, don't fail me now, _he thought, closing his eyes while moving his thumbs over the cards.

"Hey, watch where you're touching," Sword Hunter childishly whined.

Even with his eyes closed tightly, Edgar could visualize the dragons in his hand; hearing their roars. He grinned. "That's it, I now play the spell card, Tribute for the Red Eyes. Now by removing dragons from my hand and the graveyard to the Remove from Play field that add up to 7 stars, I can summon my best card, my Red Eyes Black dragon from my hand to the field," there he discarded his Baby Dragon and Curse of Dragon. "Now come my faithful Dragon," he announced, summoning his mighty Red Eyes Black Dragon from a ball of molten lava.

Its roar shook the stadium, but Chazz just laughed. "So what, they have the same attack points?"

Chazz grinned. "Not for long, because I play the equipment card, Steel Claws, increasing my Dragon's attack points by 300," the steel claws attached to his Red Eyes, increasing it to 2700. "Now, slaughter his dragon!"

A ball of molten fire formed between the dragon's mouth and fired, destroying his dragon and his life points to drop to 3700."

"I will end my turn."

Chazz drew his card. "I play the spell card Monster Reborn, bringing back Armed Dragon LV5," Chazz announced, summoning back his dragon, "but I'm not done yet, because I play the spell card LV Up, so I sacrifice Armed Dragon LV5 for Armed Dragon LV7!"

Replacing his dragon, summoned a stronger dragon with 2800. "So, slaughter his Red Eyes!"

With one swing of is large claw, it destroyed Edgar's dragon; reducing his life points to 1500. "That was your best monster?" Chazz laughed. "What a joke."

David's eyes went wide as an eerie silence seemed to instantly fill the room. David started to chuckle. "Why are you laughing, my Chief?" Bastian asked.

David stopped. "Because, Chazz just made the stupidest mistake for the rest of his life; now he will see first hand why Edgar has the title of Leader."

"What did you say?" Edgar asked in a sinister tone through his grinding teeth.

"What, can't you hear? I said Red Eyes Black Dragon is a worthless pathetic monster," he replied with laughter; but just to notice his three annoying spirits hid behind him, shaking. "What are you weaklings doing?"

"Can't you sense it, boss?" Yellow Ojama asked.

"Sense what you idiots?" Chazz asked.

"There, right there! Can't you see it!" the Black Ojama asked.

Chazz looked where the spirit was pointing, to see a dark energy emitting from the challenger. "You dare insult one of my dragons?" he asked in a darker tone, looking up to show Chazz his red glowing eyes. "But not only that, you insulted the Red Eyes which belongs to Leader of the Dragon Gang!"

His voice boomed through the audience, feeling as if a shockwave just went through the air. His breathing became heavy while his tongue licked his now jagged teeth.

Chazz didn't know why, but even his body started to shake from the sight. "I-I end my turn."

"Too bad," Edgar replied, drawing his card, "because now I will teach you to never insult my dragons again," he looked at his card he just drew; the images of Sword Hunter disappear in fright just as a large grin appeared on his face, added with a chuckle. "Hopefully, you live long enough to put it to good use."

He revealed a card in his hand. "Because I play, Pot of Greed," he drew his two cards, "now I play, Monster Reborn, bringing back the dragon you just insulted. Can't you hear its call, it wants your blood as retribution," just then, his dragon was reborn to the field. "I play, Polymerization. Fusing the other two Red Eye's in my hand to summon a card that only the Leader of the Dragon Gang owns, Red Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

The stadium felt like an earthquake just hit it as the three dragons fused together, summoning a giant black dragon, baring three heads and 3600 attack points. "But don't think I'm done teaching my lesson yet," he stated in a sadistic tone, "because I now activate the spell card of your demise, Rage of the Red Eyes!"

Edgar started to laugh menacingly as everyone's eyes were filled with fear. Except Bastian noticed that David wasn't scared at all, but enjoying it. "My Chief, how are you not scared at all?"

David chuckled. "Because, this is the side of him I call friend."

Back on the field, Edgar's eyes glowed a darker shade of red. "Now, here's how this card works; it only activates when my Ultimate Dragon is on the field. By sacrificing all but 100 life points," he described as his life points dropped to 100, "I can summon any monster from my deck, hand, graveyard, or fusion zone that bares the name Red Eyes or uses Red Eyes in a fusion to the field!"

Then in front of him, a Meteor Black Dragon, Red Eyes Medal Dragon, B. Skull Dragon and Red Eyes Black Dragon appeared to the field, towering over the other duelist. "Now tell me, Chazz! Is my Red Eyes pathetic now?" Edgar asked sadistically while his grin only grew larger but Chazz's body shook, looking at all of the dragons now towering over him. "Come on, tell me!" he called out, "Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!"

Chazz's face was now consumed by fear, stepping away from the duelist slowly. "Why won't you tell me, Chazz?! I want to know! Do you think my dragon is pathetic now?! TELL ME!"

It was like the audience forgot how to breathe, watching only in horror as Chazz was about to be served up as those dragons next snack.

"WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO ANSWER ME? I WANT TO KNOW! TELL ME!" Edgar scream out while breathing heavily, staring at the duelist's expression of fear with shear enjoyment. "TELL ME!"

Chazz broke down and fell to his knees, crying as if he was nothing but a little school girl. "I don't think they are pathetic, I swear! I Surrender!"

Right before Chazz placed his hand over his deck, Edgar stated. "Oh no you don't, I want to enjoy this. My faithful dragons, ONSLAUGHT!"

All of his dragons launched their attacks at once, obliterating what was his Armed Dragon and hitting Chazz with all of their combined force; not only taking the rest of his life points away but sending him clear across the stadium, slamming his back against the wall at full force. "Now, I hoped you learned your lesson," Edgar replied as the images disappeared and he chuckled his way off of the field.

Whispers of fear and confusion started to fill the audience as Alexis couldn't believe her shaking eyes. "That woman addicted goofball, is capable of that destructive power?"

Mindy was also startled by that performance. "He never showed an ounce of remorse, only enjoyment from the pain, suffering and fear."

_One side of him is a laid back energetic teen,_ she thought, picturing the teens face,_ and another is a dark sadistic personality, _then the darker face appeared next to it_. It's like he has,_ her eyes opened wide, _two faces. No way, could he be who Dawn told me about?_

Then as a medical team tended to Chazz, Crowler slowly walked up to the platform with knees shaking. "T-The w-winner i-is, Edgar Knight of Duel City Academy!"

No one in the audience clapped, still paralyzed in awe and fear. "Well, now that is a sight for sore eyes," David replied, "a good duel from the one known as Dragon Leader; but what a shame."

Bastian looked confused. "What do you mean, my Chief?"

David chuckled. "Because, that was only thirty percent of his destructive power, if he wanted to Edgar would have turned Chazz into dust, pity," he stood up. "But now that's over, there is work to be done."

He started to walk off as Bastian nodded. "Yes, My Chief," he said, following him.

To Be Continued

Well, now you see how a duelist that is girl crazy got the title of Leader to one of the most vicious gangs in Duel City, what else do I have up my sleeve? Read and Review.


	13. The Society of Light

Chapter 13: The Society of Light

A few tough looking Obelisks students surrounded a few weak looking Slifers in the courtyard; they grinned, slamming their hands into their fists as one of them said. "We are Guards from the Gravekeeper's Gang, so if you don't want anything bad to happen, you better give us your rarest cards."

The three students shook, reaching for their decks. "This was a great idea, 15," one of the Obelisks stated, "by using our status as a Gravekeeper, we can get anything we want."

"I know 36, and what's best our Chief doesn't have to know about it so we get it all to ourselves."

"But guys," 24 added, "what if the Chief finds out we are using the name of the Gravekeeper's to bully others?"

15 then grabbed 24 by the collar. "Well, as long as we don't tell him he won't have to know; got that?"

24 nodded as they gathered the rare cards from the Slifers. "Now with these cards we will be able to take down the chief and run this Gang like it should be."

15 then looked up, wondering why his two friends were shaking, just to see six other Obelisks surrounding them; glaring at them, "Watchers!" they called out.

In a flash, they took the cards from the Guards and returned them to the Slifers. After they ran off, the Watchers focused their attention back on them. "Our Chief wishes to speak with you three, immediately," Watcher 1 stated, signaling the others to grab the Guards and they walked.

* * *

They reached a small campground of white tents; the other Gravekeeper's whispered among themselves as the accused walked up to the main tent.

They entered to see their Chief reading a paper in front of them. The Watcher's forced the three to sit down as David glared at them. "Guard 15, 24 and 36; what do you think you three were doing?"

15 stood up, but the Watchers forced him back down. "I don't get what you are getting so worked up about Chief, we were just bullying some kids out of their cards; we are a Gang after all."

The paper in David's hand crumpled. "This is a Null Gang, what you just did degraded the Gravekeeper's. Not to mention a plot to overthrow me with the cards you bully out of the kids. Do you really think you could have gotten away with ideas such as those?"

24 and 36 bowed down to David. "We are sorry my Chief!" they both exclaimed, "It was 15's idea!"

"You traders!" 15 yelled.

"Silence!" David exclaimed in a dark tone. "I don't care who came up with the idea, you all participated in it. The Gravekeeper's is powerful, but with ideas such as those it will erupt in chaos and crumble!"

David stood up, turning his back to them. "It looks like my judgment to employ you into the Gravekeeper's was lacking, so I'm going to have to let you go."

"You mean, we are out of the Gravekeeper's?" 24 asked.

David chuckled, turning back to reveal to them a dark grin. "Yes, but before that you all will be punished for your crimes against the Gang. Get them out of my sight."

"No, give us another chance!" 15 begged in terror as the Watchers dragged them out, kicking and screaming.

David sat back down, rubbing his eyes. "It's sad to see when a fellow gang member is corrupted by power," Assailant 1 stated.

"Yes it is," David replied, "but that just shows not everyone is capable of being in the Gravekeeper's. Now, how are the sells doing on the Spell cards?"

She was about to reply, but was interrupted by Guard 12 barging into the tent. "My Chief, Watcher 20 just reported that someone is approaching us from the docks. The description is a tall man with long blue hair and a white coat."

David grinded his teeth. "Not him again; you would think after what the other gangs did to him in Duel City he would have backed down. It looks like I will have to chat with him once again."

"What should we do with him, my Chief?

David took a deep breath and exhaled. "Let him come, the sooner this is over the better."

Guard 12 bowed and walked out. "Assailant 1, please inform the rest of the gang to continue with business as if nothing has changed."

She bowed. "Yes, my Chief."

She then walked off, just as a few seconds later, the man walked through the tent. "I see you are focused on business as always, Chief David," the man stated smugly, bowing to David.

"And I see you still haven't learned your lesson, Sartorius," David replied through grinding teeth. "I would think after the beating you got from the other gangs it would have penetrated that thick skull of yours that no one in Duel City is interested in joining your society."

Sartorius only grinned as he stood back up. "Well, that's why I have come here; I believe that I will find more competent duelists here that see my vision of a world without darkness, covered in glorious light."

"Well as long as my gang is on this Island, it is considered my territory. So the last thing I want is competition, if you see where I am going with this," David threatened.

Sartorius chuckled. "Your gang is formidable, but my Society has already reached the ends of the world, so soon your gang won't be a problem."

David seemed to be intrigued from what Sartorius just stated, rubbing his chin. "Well then, how about a duel. If I win, you're Society of Light will flicker away."

"But by the rules of dueling against a Gang Leader, I am aloud to request anything in return as well," the man of light stated.

"That is correct, so what is your request?" David asked.

Sartorius grinned. "Your gang and all of its current members, joins the Society of Light to help purge the world of darkness; and you become my second in command."

"I thought as much you would request that," David replied, nodding, "but I can't go against the rules of the Gangs, I accept."

* * *

They stood in the center of the base with Duel Disks ready; all of the Gravekeeper's surrounded them, cheering for their Chief's victory. "Before we duel," Sartorius announced, "I would like to use one of your Gravekeeper's decks."

This shocked all of the gang members as he nodded. "If that is what you wish."

David then snapped his fingers and one of the Assailants presented Sartorius with a Gravekeeper's deck. There, Sartorius looked through the cards. "I must say though, I am impressed how this gang revolves around the characters in these cards."

Sartorius pulled out a Spear Soldier. "Like how your Soldiers are the sales people of the gang," he pulls out a Vassal, "or how these are the accountants," he pulls out a Guard, "they are the bodyguards," then a Watcher, "they are the police," an Assailant, "the personal assistances to the Chief and personal bodyguards," a Cannonholder, "well, if your city had guns these would probably be the snipers of your gang, but since they don't you don't have a Cannonholder division," he pulls out a Spy, "infiltration division," a Curse, "the researchers division. But let's not forget the Chief."

He pulled out the card. "The leader of the Gravekeeper's and just like its effect says, only one can be out on the field at a time. I've always wondering how two Gravekeeper's Decks would go against each other."

"Well then, let's find out," David replied, activating his Duel Disk.

"Let's duel," they both called out, setting their life points at 4000.

"Well like the rules against a gang leader, the challenger goes first," Sartorius smugly stated, drawing his sixth card. "Well, I will summon Curse to the field, causing 500 direct damage to your life points."

David's life points went down to 3500. "And I also play one card face down, ending my turn."

The card appeared on the field as David drew his card. Well then, I play Assailant," he called out, summoning his monster with 1500 attack points, "attack!"

His monster's dagger grew as she sliced Curse in half; exploding and costing Sartorius life points to drop to 3300. "I will place two cards face down and end my turn."

Sartorius chuckled. "I see you are taking this duel serious, it's been awhile since if seen you do that."

"When my gang is on the line I'm always serious," David snapped back.

"That's good," Sartorius drew his card. "Well then I activate my trap card, Rite of Spirits. Summoning back my Curse, causing your life points to, once again, drop 500 points."

Curse was summoned back to the field, causing David's life points to drop to 3000. "Now I sacrifice my Curse to summon Chief, using his effect to once again bring back Curse."

David's life points dropped to 2500 as the monster was re-summoned to the field. "Now Chief, destroy his Assailant."

"Nice try, I activate Magic Cylinder!" David called out, revealing his face down card, "now the attack is redirected back at your life points."

The Chief launched the dark ball out of his hand, which entered one cylinder and out the other, striking Sartorius, which caused his life points to drop to 1400. "Good move, I will place one card face down and end my turn."

_He left his Curse in attack mode, which means that face down card is a trap. He wants me to attack,_ David thought as he drew his card. "I will summon Spear Soldier to the field," he announced as the 1500 attack power monster appeared on the field. "Now, I will have my Soldier attack your Curse with Spear Thrust!"

"Well then, it looks like I thought too highly of you David. Because I activate, Mirror Force."

Just then, a wall appeared in front of the Soldier; it struck the wall and destroyed his monster and Assailant. "I will end my turn."

Sartorius drew. "Now my curse, attack his life points directly."

"I activate my trap, Rite of Spirits, bringing back Spear Soldier in attack mode."

David's monster returned to the field and Sartorius ceased his attack. "Well, now I will have my Chief attack your monster instead."

The dark energy ball hit David's Soldier, destroying it which caused David's life points to drop to 2600. "I will end my turn."

David drew. "I summon Curse in defense mode; you should know what this does." Sartorius life points dropped to 900 and I place one card face down, ending my turn."

David placed a Mirror Force on the field. _Isn't running this gang a lot of work? _David heard the thoughts of Sartorius, _if you let me win, you won't have to put up with all of this work. Lose and be my second in command._

Sartorius grinned as he drew his card. "I play the spell card, Tribute of the Doom, sacrificing a Guard from my hand to destroy the Curse on your field."

A mummies hand appeared from the bottom of the field and dragged his curse to the graveyard. "Now my Chief and Curse, attack his life points directly, ending this duel."

Both of Sartorius's monsters launched their attacks as David's hand reached to activate the trap. But at the last second, stopped himself, letting both of the monsters attacks hit and his life points dropped to 0. "You made the right decision, David."

Everyone gasped as David didn't look phased at all. "Well a deal's a deal; my gang is now under your command as the Society of Light, Master Sartorius."

David bowed as the rest of the Gravekeeper's followed their former Chief's actions. "I'm glad you have finally seen the light, David."

David chuckled in his thoughts. _Yeah, you could say that._

To Be Continued

This is based off the second year so I had to bring him in; but now the Gravekeeper's are members of the Society of Light, what will happen now? Read and Review to find out.


	14. Bloodlust’s thirst

Chapter 14: Bloodlust's thirst

Reality finally got his turn to duel in the Ultimate School Duel against Czar of North Academy. His life points at a low 1000 and two of his prized Dark Blades on the field as he was facing off against Czar's prized Zoa and 2300 life points.

Reality drew his card, smirking. "Now I sacrifice one of my Dark Blades so I can summon, Kiryu!" the monster was summoned to the field, but in the Magic zone. "And I use his special ability, equipping him to my Dark Blade to raise his attack points by 900!"

Dark Blade jumped on Kiryu and his attack rose to 2700. "Now; attack with Skydive Slash!"

His monster slashed at Zoa, destroying it and leaving Czar with 2200. "But now, I activate my trap, Formation Union, separating both of my monsters to attack your life points directly!"

"No, this can't be the end for the Czar!" he cried as both of the monsters hit his life points, dropping them to zero.

"And the winner for the second match of the second round, Reality of the Underwater Duel Academy!" Crowler announced, causing the whole audience to cheer.

Sartorius chuckled. "Now, what a fine match that was, he would be a great member to the Society of Light. Don't you think so, David?"

He looked over to see the former leader of the Gravekeeper's, now wearing a white version of his Obelisk Blue uniform along with a good amount of students in the audience. "He is a good duelist, but I don't think he would be a good member to join the Society."

"But the Society is opened for all to join, especially duelists of his skill."

David's eyelids narrowed. "Well Master, I go off the idea of a limit," he then pulled out his deck, "think of your Society as this deck and each card a member. If you accept all, no matter how they think or act, your deck will be way too big to keep track of, not to mention filled with cards that would be more of a clutter than a benefit."

Once again, Sartorius chuckled. "I understand what you mean; but, they will be more accomplished duelists after they see the light."

David hid his hand that curled into a fist. "I see, but I still believe that the limit system will be more of a benefit to you, Master."

"Well then, there is still much work to be done," the leader to the Society stated, getting out of his seat.

* * *

David walked down the hall, just to hear a dark voice call out to him from the shadows. He turned to see Bloodlust, leaning his back to the wall. "What fun would it be with a world without darkness," he chuckled.

"What is it that you want, Mr. Dalv?" David asked.

"The news has already hit the school, how the Gravekeeper's are no more," he then bared his teeth, revealing his fangs. "What does that mean for the Queen of this Academy?"

"Well since the Gravekeeper's are no longer active, the deal we had has become Null and Void. She is now no longer under my protection; you are allowed to do what ever you wish with her; drain her, beat her, rape her, it is none of my concern," David replied, baring not even the slightest hit of guilt or regret on his face or voice.

He licked his fangs, chuckling. "Good," moving his back from the wall; walking past the former leader of the Gravekeeper's just to add, "I was getting, thirsty."

* * *

David walked into his room to see it was empty. A note was left on Edgar's bed, stating he had five dates tonight at the same time and won't be back till after curfew. Strange how many girls like the bad boy personality at this school, his relationship with them did a complete one-eighty after that duel against Chazz. He chuckled; it was the same as if they were still back in Duel City.

He walked up to his own bed, falling on his back. The first thing that hit his mind was how Sartorius could excel his Society so quickly with how he ran it now; David knew things had to change before it completely collapses.

* * *

Alexis stood on the pier, bathing in the light of the full moon high in the sky. It was something she hasn't done since Zane graduated. The cool breeze blew through her long hair, it felt very calming. This was the first time since Jaden's disappearance she has felt anywhere near this relaxed.

The ocean lit up from the moon's glow and a shooting star crossed the sky, but turned dark as a single dark cloud covered the moon in the virtually clear skies.

"Hello, Alexis," a dark voice pierced through the tranquil air.

She looked over, seeing the student from Vlad Duel Academy standing about 5 yards away. "What a beautiful night this is, don't you think?" he chuckled, "A night like this makes me want to get a bite to drink."

She felt as if something was wrong, standing her guard. "What do you want, Bloodlust?"

He chuckled once again, adjusting his sunglass with the palm of his hand. "I just told you, I'm out for a bite to drink." He revealed his other arm, already equipped with his duel disk; but this one was different to Alexis, it was a sinister shade of green. "So, how about a duel?"

She saw he blocked her only path back to the Island, so she had no other choice. "Fine, let's duel then."

She activated her duel disk as he activated his, this one flipped out one summoning pad which extended to five. "This is going to be fun."

Their life point's started at 4000 as Alexis drew her card. "I summon Etoile Cyber to the field in attack mode," she stated, summoning the woman to the field with 1200 attack points, "I will also play one card face down and end my turn."

Bloodlust drew his card. "Ah, it look like I will have to make a," he revealed his card, "Painful Choice. Now this is how it works, I draw five cards from my deck, you pick one and the rest go to my graveyard."

He picked his five and revealed them to her. She was shocked to see the five cards he picked; four of them being his Sin spell cards: Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, and Pride, with his last card being a Magician of Faith. She knew what would happen if those cards went into the graveyard but she couldn't let him use them either. "I pick, Magician of Faith."

He grinned. "Good choice," then he placed the spell cards into his graveyard and added the monster, "Now I will activate, my field card, The Seal of Orichalcos."

Her eyes went completely wide with fear hearing the name of that card; it wasn't long ago they studied this card, its power extremely dangerous. "Are you insane? Do you know what will happen if you activate that card!?"

He couldn't help but burst out laughing; then opened his overcoat, revealing it is lined with cards, baring the pictures of the female students from her school. "Yes, I know exactly what it does. This card was once thought of being completely destroyed but I found a warehouse after my family bought Paradius, filled with nothing but crates of this card and this duel disk. So now prepare for your defeat!"

He placed the card in the field zone of his duel disk; the center of the field grew a large light green circle which then formed a star. He removed his glasses to show his eyes blood red, the seal on his forehead and a large green light shot up into the sky. "Now, I Summon, Dark King of the Abyss in attack mode!"

The floating skull with skeleton like hand appeared on the field with 1200 attack points. "But now thanks to my field card, my monster gains 500 attack points," just then, the seal appeared on his monster's forehead, turning him into a more vicious creature with 1700 attack. "Now, destroy her monster with Shroud of the Abyss!"

"I activate my trap card, Doble Passe. Now your attack is directed at my life points," she announced, taking 1700 direct damage to her own life points, "but now I can have my monster attack your life points directly as well. Go Etoile Cyber!"

She spun herself right at Bloodlust, "oh, and when Etoile Cyber attacks the life points directly, it gains an extra 500 attack points," she added as her monster rose to 1700 and attacked his life points, putting them both at 2300.

"I will end my turn," Bloodlust replied.

She drew her card. "Well even with that Seal I will still beat you, because I summon Blade Skater then play Polymerization; fusing both of them together to Summon Cyber Blader in attack mode," she announced, sacrificing both of her monsters for one with 2100. "Because you have a monster on the field, it can't be destroyed in battle. Now attack his Dark King!"

Her monster attacks, destroying his monster and dropped his life points to 1900. "I will end my turn."

Bloodlust drew his card. "I play one monster face down and end turn."

She drew. "I will summon Cyber Tutu in attack mode and I will have Cyber Blader attack your face down card."

Her monster attacked her face down monster, being Magician of Faith. "I now activate its effect, getting one spell card from my graveyard and adding it to my hand."

"Well it's still my turn and I attack with Cyber Tutu at your life points!"

The monster attacked him directly, dropping his life points to 900. "I will end my turn."

He drew his card. "I play the card I just got back, Painful choice. You know the rules," he said as he drew his five cards. "Now, choose."

She looked at the cards: Sloth, Envy, Greed, Dark Assailant, and Swords of Revealing light. Even though she looked like she was winning before, she knew now she was completely trapped. "Sloth."

He picked the card, discarding the rest. "I play the spell card, 7 Sins: Sloth, using it on your Cyber Blader."

Her Cyber Blader switched into 800 defense. "Now, all of my 7 Sin spell cards are in my Graveyard; I summon, Lord!"

The giant creature was summoned to the field. "Again, because of my field card, my monster becomes even stronger!"

The Seal was placed on its large skull forehead, raising its attack to 4500. "Now my creature, destroy her Cyber Tutu and the rest of her life points!"

The enormous monster towered over the frighten duel monster's card. It raised its large hand and crashed down, pulverizing it and causing her life points to drop to 0. "Now, the fun begins."

The Seal surrounded Alexis, she panicked; trying everything she could do to escapes, but it was no use. It ensnared her in a large beam of light.

Once it disappeared, Alexis just stood there, the pupils in her eyes missing. Bloodlust opened the field card zone to reveal his card had a picture of Alexis where the seal should be. "Another snack for my collection," he put his sunglasses back on and looked over at Alexis's soulless body, licking his fangs, "not to mention, dueling is thirsty work."

He approached her, grinning to reveal his fangs. Gently he grabbed her body, moving her head back to reveal her neck. He licked his fangs, opening his mouth wide.

But before he could sink his fangs in her, a voice yelled out. "Get away from her!"

To Be Continued

Who stopped Bloodlust? Read and review to find out.


	15. Jaden's Story

Chapter 15: Jaden's Story

Jaden has been wandering the forest for who knows how long; not feeling sleepy or hungry the entire time. His mind still in the dark state of depression; not just from what David said to him, nor what Edgar did to him, but what he was about to do.

His cards, his friends, were about to be torn before his eyes. No matter how hard he tried his body wouldn't react to stop this as all he could do was watch. He had never felt so terrified in his life.

He kept walking till he reached the edge of a cliff; there his eyes completely empty of hope looked below at the waves crashing against the sharp rocks. Just like before, his body wouldn't listen to his mind as he was about to take another step, just to end the pain.

But before his body completed that task, something caught his eye. He looked up at the full moon in the sky to see a shooting star rocket by. But something strange happened as the star did a ninety degree turn and flew over his head where it crashed nearby. His minds curiosity trumped his body's actions as the next thing he did was run in its direction.

* * *

There he came up to a large crater in the ground where dead in the center wasn't a meteor like he expected but a small metal sphere, around the size of a volley ball, a shade of red; yet quickly cooled to its normal shade of gray steel.

He slid down the crater to get a better look at the space debris. But as he approached it opened to reveal a small stack of duel monster cards. This baffled him yet was then shocked when a duel sprit, baring the shape of a humanoid blue dolphin, appeared above it. "Hello, Jaden; my name is Aquos. It is nice that we finally met."

He couldn't keep his balance and fell on his butt. "Ouch; what are you, I've never seen a duel monster like you."

"I am a Neo-Spacian, an aqua dolphin to be specific; and I have come here with the rest of the Neo-Spacians because we need your help," the fish out of water replied.

What David said to him flashed back into his mind, his depression came with it. "You don't want me, I could barely stand up for the cards I had."

"Nonsense, Jaden; you have the heart of a true duelist and that is your problem."

Even though Jaden wasn't the smartest student at his school, he knew this didn't make sense. "I don't understand."

"It is because you have dueled with only a small portion of your heart. Your love for dueling is strong but you must find another reason you duel."

Jaden rubbed the back of his head. "How can I find that?"

"That I cannot answer, only you can. You must look deep inside of your heart and I'm sure you will find it, and then you will be the true duelist you are. But we also need your help, because there is a new evil that not only threatens your planet, but the Neos itself."

Jaden stood back up. "What do you want me to do?"

"We need for you to use those cards in that pod to help defeat the Surge of Light. As long as you use those cards we will be there to help you anyway we can."

Jaden slowly picked up the cards then looked through it. "But, there aren't enough cards here for a deck."

"Because you added us to your deck, together we will once and for all stop the evil menace."

His memory flashed to the last thing he could remember, where his Avian was about to be ripped in half. "I don't know what happened to my deck."

Aquos smiled. "I bet you will find it very soon; but for now, let us help you. We will do what ever we can to help."

And just like that, Aquos disappeared back into the small deck of cards Jaden held in his hands. But before he could think of anything else, a large green light could be seen shooting into the sky. Once again, curiosity trumped his body's actions as he pocketed the cards and ran off in its direction.

* * *

But as he came up to the pier his eyes witness the horror of his friend entrapped by the strange light. After it disappeared, he watched the transfer student Bloodlust approach her.

He ran at full speed down to the pier and yelled. "Get away from her!"

Bloodlust moved back, grinning. "Go away; I'm thirsty and trying to get my fill."

Jaden's eyes focused on his friend from Obelisk, her eyes completely lifeless. "What did you do to her!?"

He pulled out a card and revealed it to him, a picture of Alexis. "I took her soul, and now she is mine to do with as I please."

Again, what Edgar did flashed in his mind, Jaden's hand tightened into a fist. He wasn't going to stand by again and let one of his friends get hurt. "Then I will duel you for her!"

He backed away from the girl, licking his fangs. "Fine, make me even thirstier."

Bloodlust took out his deck, but before entering the deck in his duel disk, he added one extra card. Then he turned to face the duelist. "Are you ready?"

Jaden reached for his deck protector, but then remembered he didn't have his cards. Yet just then, he could hear his Winged Kuriboh call.

He looked across to see his old friend floating next to Alexis's pocket. "Kuriboh!"

Bloodlust looked over at the floating fluff ball, which caused it to hide behind Alexis. "So, you see duel spirits as well? Interesting, do you see mine?"

Jaden squinted his eyes just as they went wide, seeing the large duel spirit behind him. "That is your duel spirit?"

"This is going to be fun," Bloodlust stated, grabbing Jaden's deck off of Alexis and tossing it over to Jade. "So get ready."

Jaden added his new cards to his deck then added his deck to his duel disk. But still, the depression lingered in his mind, wondering what would happen to her if he lost. "Let's duel!" Bloodlust called out.

The life points were set at 4000 as Jaden drew his card. He was glad to see his Avian alright and ready to fight. "I summon, Elemental Hero Bubbleman to the field in attack mode!" he announced as the monster was summoned. "Now, because he is the only monster on my side of the field, I am allowed to draw two cards."

Jaden then drew his two cards. "Now I equip my Bubbleman with Bubble Blaster, raising his attack points to 1600; I will then end my turn."

Bloodlust drew his card. "I will summon, Abyss Soldier to the field in attack mode," he announced, summoning a fish-like creature to the field with 1800 attack points, "now I use his special ability, discarding a water monster from my hand to the graveyard to send one monster on the field back to the owner's hand," he then discarded another Abyss Soldier from his hand to the graveyard. "Now, send your, so called, hero back to your hand!"

Jaden watched as his monster was sent back to his hand and its equipment card sent to the graveyard. "Now my Soldier, attack his life points directly!"

With its large trident, it stabbed right through Jaden, sending his life points down to 2200. "I will place one card face down and end my turn."

Jaden cursed himself; once again he did another pathetic opening move. How could he have gotten this far with mistakes like this? But the duel must go on, he drew his next card. He was shocked to see it was none other than Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin. "Jaden, you must remember your love for dueling; that is the only way you will find deep within your heart what you need to become an even greater duelist."

He knew what Aquos said was right; he had to focus back on his love for dueling. "Once again, I play my Bubbleman to the field, and now I can activate his effect," he drew his two cards, "now I play Polymerization, fusing Elemental Avian and Burstinatrix in my hand to summon, Elemental Hero Flame Wingman!"

His 2100 attack monster was summoned to the field. "Now, attack his Abyss Soldier with Skydive Scorcher!" then Flame Wingman jumped high in the air, coming down in a blaze to destroy his opponents monster which reduced his life points down to 3700. "But now my monsters effect kicks in, you take damage equal to your monsters attack points."

Flame Wingman approached Bloodlust and with his dragon arm, scorched his life points down to 1900. "Now Bubbleman, attack his life points directly!"

The bubble beam did a direct hit, dropping his life points down to 1100. "It has been a while since someone has done that much damage to me in one turn, this might be interesting after all."

"I will end my turn with a face down card."

Bloodlust drew his card. "Well, I will activate my trap card, Call of the Haunted, bringing back my Abyss Soldier so I can sacrifice it for, Ryu Kokki," he announced, summoning a large creature made out of skulls. "Now I play two spell cards, 7 Sins: Sloth and Pride and I use them both on your Bubbleman."

Jaden's Bubbleman switched to defense while its attack grew to 1600. "Now Ryu Kokki, destroy his weak Wingman!"

Then with one slash of its large claw, it destroyed his Wingman and his life points down to 1900. "I activate my trap card! Hero Signal! Now, you pick a card from my hand and if it's a monster I get to summon it."

"The one on the far left," Bloodlust said.

"Good choice, for me; because you just picked my Elemental Hero Bladeedge!"

"Well then, I play two cards face down and end my turn, activating the side effect of my Pride. Say goodbye to your Bubbleman."

Jaden watched as his Bubbleman was destroyed and he drew his card. "I summon, Elemental Hero Wildheart in attack mode."

"Well now I activate my trap card!" Bloodlust called out.

"Sorry, but my Wildheart isn't effected by traps," Jaden stated.

"Who says I was wasting one of my traps on your cards, its called, Quick-play Converter, it makes a normal magic card I have on the field into a quick-play, so I use it on my spell card, 7 Sins: Lust. Now this card forces a card of my choosing on your side of the field to attack my monster. So I select your Wildheart!"

Jaden watched as his Wildheart's eyes turned green and charged directly at Bloodlust's Ryu Kokki. He slashed with his large blade but it broke when it hit the monster. Then Ryu Kokki attacked Wildheart and destroyed it, dropping his life points to 1000.

"Well, then I have my Bladeedge attack your Ryu Kokki!"

His Bladeedge zoomed straight across and destroyed his monster, dropping his life points to 900. "Well, you should study, because if a warrior attacks my Ryu Kokki, it is destroyed after the damage step."

His monster was destroyed and Jaden was shocked. "Dang, I will play one card face down and end my turn."

Bloodlust drew his card. "I summon, Dark King of the Abyss in attack mode, destroy the rest of his life points!"

"I activate my spell card, The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh!" then his Kuriboh was summoned to the field and destroyed, saving his life points for that turn.

"I will end my turn."

Jaden drew his card. "I play three cards face down and summon, Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin in defense mode," Jaden replied, no longer having a card in his hand. "I will end my turn."

Bloodlust drew. "I play the spell card, 7 Sins: Wrath. Letting my monster attack your life points directly!"

"I activate my spell card," Jaden called out, "Mirage of Nightmares, letting me draw four cards from my deck."

"Well, that was pathetic, because now I have my Dark King end this Duel!"

His monster charged straight at Jaden. "I activate, Emergency Provisions! Tributing my two cards on the field to gain 2000 life points!"

Jaden's life points went up to 3000 just as Dark King hit; lowering it to 1800. "Very close, but now I will place my last card on the field and end my turn. Causing the side effect of my spell card to reduce my life points by half of my monster's attack."

Bloodlust life points dropped to 300 as Jaden drew his card. "I will summon, Elemental Hero Sparkman in attack mode and attack your Dark King."

"I activate my trap card, Alter for Tribute; now I sacrifice my own Dark King to gain 1200 life points," he announced, going up to 1500 life points.

"I play one card face down and end my turn," Jaden replied.

Bloodlust drew his card. "I activate my spell card, 7 Sins: Envy. Now since you have 3 cards in your hand, I pay 600 life points to draw three cards," he said, drawing three cards from his deck. "Now I activate, my spell card 7 Sins: Gluttony, taking 1000 life points from you and adding it to me."

His life points went up to 1900 as his went to 800. "And finally I play the spell card, 7 Sins: Greed, paying 900 life points to look at your hand and take one of your cards."

Bloodlust's life points dropped to 1000 as Jaden showed his hand: Soul Release, Monster Reborn and Polymerization. "Well, I wouldn't want you using that card, so I take Soul Release."

Jaden threw his card and Bloodlust caught it. "I play Pot of Greed, drawing two cards. But now, since all 7 of my 7 Sin spell cards are in my graveyard, I can special summon my most powerful monster, Lord!"

Once again, a look of dread came on his face as the large shadow creature formed in front of Bloodlust, bearing its giant skull. "Now Lord, destroy another victim by eliminating his Sparkman!"

Lord's large arm went up into the air. "I activate my spell card, Little Kid Rumble (forgot the name, sue me)! This card switches the attack to fight my weakest monster."

Lord then looked over at Neo-Spacian Aqua Dolphin with the eyes hidden behind the skull and smashed down on it. Luckily it was in defense mode which gave Jaden some time. "Well then, just incase you think of somehow attacking me. I'm going to set up the ultimate wall. Because now I play, Alexis," he stated, putting the card in the monster zone where she appeared on the Monster Zone, chained down to the spell card. "Jaden, Jaden is that you?!" she called out.

"What have you done, Bloodlust?" Jaden yelled out.

Bloodlust chuckled. "Her soul is mine to do with as I please, so I summoned her as a token on the field; she has no attack points or defense and she is summoned in attack mode. Now, all I have to do is rip the card for her to be set free but if she is destroyed in a duel, she is gone forever."

Jaden couldn't believe his ears as he saw his friend chained in front of him, his body wouldn't stop shaking as his eyes widen with fear. "Now, for the fun part, because now I activate the equipment card, Ring of Magnetism and attach it to Alexis. Now the only way you can get to me, is to destroy her. I now end my turn."

Jaden didn't know what to do; he could attack right now and end the duel, but the only one he could attack is Alexis. He was too afraid to even draw the next card as his hand rested on the edge. "Jaden!" Alexis called out, "You can't let him win, do what ever you can to defeat him!"

He was shocked by these words. "But Alexis, I can't..."

"You must, what he has done is unforgivable, he has to be stopped!" she said in a tone of voice he has never heard from Alexis, that of pure fear.

_There has to be someway, I know if only I was the better duelist Aquos said I could be I would figure a way out of this,_ Jaden thought, as before he knew it he was lost in his own memories, back during the better times.

He remembered when his friends Bastian, Chumley, Syrus and Alexis would either hang out or duel. But slowly, his memories will start to drop some of the people. First was Chumley; but they still seemed to have a great time. Then Bastian faded out and last Syrus; only to leave Alexis. Then, he felt a strange new feeling inside of him, the thoughts of depression disappearing and his confidents grew; feeling like his old self again. "Are you going to draw or what?" Bloodlust asked, laughing and the predicament he just put Jaden in.

But something startled him, as he heard Jaden started laughing too. "Oh yeah I'm going to draw," Jaden replied, revealing a large smile on his face. "Why would I want to stop a duel as fun as this?"

Bloodlust was baffled as Alexis only smiled, knowing that her friend was back to his old self.

Jaden drew his card. "I play, Pot of Greed, drawing two cards," he pulled his two cards, "now I play Monster Reborn, bringing back my Elemental Hero Flame Wingman back to the field as I then play Polymerization, fusing my Wingman with my Sparkman to summon, Elemental Hero Shinning Flare Wingman," he announced as his creature brighten the field and 2500 attack points. "Now, he has a special ability, he gains 300 attack points for every Elemental Hero in my graveyard, and I count 7, so that's 2100 extra attack points.

His Hero rose to 4600 attack points, shinning brighter than before. "Now I summon, Neo-Spacian Groun Mole," he stated, summoning the mole with 900 attack points. "Now, attack my Neo-Spacian at Alexis."

Even though she was frightened, she knew that Jaden had to know what he was doing. So after she was attacked, Bloodlust was shocked to see that Alexis wasn't destroyed, but sent back to his hand. "What is going on here?"

Jaden picked back up his Neo-Spacian and smiled. "That is the special ability of this Neo-Spacian; instead of destroying the monster they are both sent back to our hands, where I can now activate this quick-play spell of mine, Hand Switch. Now we switch hands."

Jaden then took Bloodlust's cards as Jaden handed him his Groun Mole; glad to know Alexis was safe and sound. "Now this card is very interesting, after we switch hands I pay half my life points and you get to draw till you have five cards in your hands.

Bloodlust drew four cards as Jaden's life points dropped to 900. "Then it starts us back at my first main phase. So I now play Double Spell, getting rid of my Soul Release to take your 7 Sins: Pride."

Bloodlust eyes when wide. "Do you know what you have done?!" Bloodlust asked as he watched his prized monster disappear before his eyes.

"So, your monster's weakness is the spell cards, lucky me. But now, I use 7 Sins: Pride on my Flare Wingman! Doubling his attack points!"

But as soon as Jaden used that card to increase his monsters attack points to 9200, the giant being formed back on his field. "Now, attack his Lord with shinning flare blast!

His monster attacked, encasing the whole match in a strong light and reducing Bloodlust life points to 0.

Bloodlust fell to his knees; he couldn't believe someone like him found his most powerful monster's weakness. "Now, release my friend and anyone else you might have taken here," Jaden replied, handing him Alexis.

Bloodlust stood back up, brushing off his shoulders. "A deal is a deal," he replied, taking the card from him and ripping it in-half right before his eyes.

"What did you do?!" Jaden asked in shock.

"You need to listen," he replied, pointing to Alexis's body, which started to shake out of it. Her legs felt so tired that she collapsed, but Jaden was already there to catch her.

"Alexis, are you alright?" Jaden asked, worried about his friend.

Alexis's face couldn't help but turn red; right now he was like a knight in shinning armor rescuing the damsel in distress. "I-I'm fine, my legs are just tired from standing all that time. Not to mention my body is a bit stiff."

He then helped her back up, where he wrapped her arm around his shoulder to give her support. "The hero won, those stories are always so boring to me."

The two looked at Bloodlust, who was holding a small stack of cards and a box cutter. Then with one movement, slashed them all in half and fell to the ground. Where he then walked off.

The two looked at the cards, to see they were the soul cards that were lined in his overcoat. A gently breeze blew them into the ocean and the sea carried them away. "Let me help you to the nurse's station, Alexis."

She nodded. "Thanks Jaden, and I'm glad your back."

He smiled, rubbing the back of his head. "Thanks, its good to be back."

To Be Continued

Yes, I finally brought him back and with the Neo-Spacians; how will this tournament turn out now? Read and review to find out. And yes I probably went against some rule in the end of the duel but I couldn't find another way to end it then.


	16. Strings of faith

Chapter 16: Strings of Faith

Nicole of Klein Duel Academy was facing off against Twister from the Underwater Duel Academy. Twister used her Cyber Harpie Lady and Harpie's Brother to take out her Red and Purple Fairy in defense. "Now my pet, attack her life points directly!" Twister called out.

Then with the large blast, Nicole's life points dropped down from 3500 to 500. "I activate a trap, Fairies of Color! Now for ever 500 life points I just took, I can summon a Fairy with a color in its name to the field, so I choice: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green and Blue Fairy to the field in Defense Mode."

A monster was now on all of her spaces, protecting what little of her life points she hand left. "Sure, summon more of those colored freaks; with my dragon on the field you will soon be defeated none-the-less," Twister mocked as her dragon roared. "I will end my turn."

Nicole drew her card and her eyes went wide, it was the card she got not too long ago from the Gravekeeper's. A spell card called, Fairy Paint Mixture; and with five Fairies on the field already this card is to be considered very dangerous.

She remembers the exact words the Soldier said. "When you mix colors into a Prism you get light, but it's the opposite effect when in paint."

"Are you just going to stare at that card all day or are you going to accept your defeat?" Twister called out.

She grinded her teeth and replied. "I play the Spell card, Fairy Paint Mixture. "Now here's how it works, I sacrifice up to five fairies on my field; so I sacrifice all five to summon, The Black Fairy!"

Each one of her five fairies flew into her spell card and from the dark mixture rose a large black fairy. "Now how I get the attack points for this monster is the combine attack points of the fairies I sacrificed divided by two, so that brings my fairy to 3000."

Her monster rosed to 3000 attack points as she added. "But I'm not finished, because I sacrificed five fairies to summon her, her ability activates; destroying all of your monsters and taking their attack points, dividing it by two, then inflicting it to you as damage."

The Black Fairy waved her staff, destroying all of her monsters to bring her life points down to 900. "Now, attack my Black Fairy and deplete the rest of her life points!"

Black Fairy moved her staff once again, hitting Twister and dropping her life points down to 0. The images disappeared as Crowler announced. "Winner of the Third Match in the Second Round; Nicole Smalls of Klein Duel Academy!"

* * *

Alexis relaxed barefooted on her bed, waving her legs in the air as she listened to Life is like a Boat on her headphones. In front of her rested her cards, but she couldn't focus on them, only what Jaden did the other night, rescuing her. Just thinking about it made her heart race faster and her cheeks turn a dark shade of red.

The words of what Dawn told her the other day hit her mind; if the one he cared for paid close enough attention, she would know. Does that mean she was the one he liked? This thought alone caused her blush a deeper shade of red.

But she hated not knowing, but she couldn't just ask him. She has never been this confused in her life.

* * *

It was dinner time in the Girl's Dorm. Alexis just pushed the food around on her plate as Jasmine would tell Mindy how Edgar asked her out after dinner.

But then it hit the Queen of Obelisk; as she could have Dawn read her deck. So she stood up and headed over to where Dawn was giving other readings. Just as she finished, Alexis sat in her place. "I had a feeling I would see you again," Dawn said, smiling at the tall girl.

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm bothering you."

Dawn shook her head. "No, I'm always happy to give a reading," she held out her hand, "now can I please have your deck?"

Alexis complied, handing Dawn her deck. "Here you go."

Dawn shuffled the deck, signaled Alexis to split the deck. There Dawn picked up the first card, placing it on the table. "Blade Skater, the person you like is determined and full of energy. It sounds very familiar for some reason," Dawn replied with a small grin.

Alexis rubbed her hands under the table, looking down to hide the blush mark that just appeared on her face. "W-What else do you see?"

Dawn spread the deck across the table, gliding her hand over it till it reached the far right side. There she picked up the card, revealing it to be Doble Passe. The smile on her face instantly turned to sadness. "Do not go with this feeling."

This answer shocked the Queen. "What, why not?"

Dawn put her hand over her heart, as if in pain from looking at this card. "I-I've never felt such pain before; so much heart break and suffering, a love that can never exist. If you go along with this feeling, the happiness won't last very long."

A deep feeling of sadness started to fill her heart. "Are you... sure?"

Dawn nodded. "I'm afraid so; I'm sorry to say that not all of my readings are happy ones," she picked up Alexis's deck and handed it back to her, "but it might be better that you know now, then taking in the pain when it came."

Alexis rubbed her moist eyes with her arm and took her deck back. "Maybe."

* * *

She walked outside in the cool night breeze, feeling as if her heart was breaking before it could even form. But if that wasn't enough, she could hear someone chuckling at her.

She turned to see Shadow of Vlad Academy, laying his back on the bench staring up at the night sky. "It always makes me shed a crocodile tear to see a cute girl sad."

Her sadness quickly turned to hatred. "You are one of Bloodlust friends, aren't you?"

He chuckled again. "I can tell by your tone you are very well informed of Bloodlust's actions. So far you are the only one he has duel and didn't drink; consider yourself lucky."

"Well tell him if he ever comes near me again I will report him!"

"Tell him yourself, I could care less if you were killed where you stand, let alone loose a pint of blood," Shadow replied with amusement lingering on his voice, sitting up to look directly at Alexis, "but enough about my good friend, I want to talk about you. How your heart is in so much pain."

Alexis stood back, a bit shocked from his accusation. "I-I don't know what you are talking about?" she lied.

He snickered. "The moisture in your eyes, how you reacted after I stated it; you should know I can read you like a book, Alexis. Not to mention how you have been acting since the moron of Ra disappeared: sad, despair and fear. You have a crush on the airhead, but what I can't figure out is why someone of your talent and intelligent would like a goofball like him."

Her face was bright red, could she really have been that easy to read. "I don't know what you are talking about; I don't have a crush on him."

"Oh shut up!" Shadow snapped in a hostile tone, startling the Queen of Duel Academy. "I hate it when people lie to me. I can read anyone like a book, as if I've known them all their lives; call it a curse. But yet they still think they can sneak a lie by me. Now by how you were acting I'm going to guess that you found out you can never truly be with him and I'm also going to guess that you still have no idea why, right?"

Alexis was a bit frightened, but nodded. "Yes, I have no idea why. So are you going to tell me?"

"It is so obvious, so you must be the definition of being blonde comes from," he replied, slowly walking towards the queen. "Now tell me, what do you plan to do if he accepts your feelings? Will you become boyfriends and girlfriend? The string of faith tied to your pinky for all eternity?"

Alexis's face flustered. "W-Well, yeah; you could say that."

He chuckled, walking closer to Alexis, which caused her to step back. Even for a guy about Jaden's height, the look in his eyes frightened her. "Just as I thought, the idea of love always turns the brightest bulb into burned out flint. Now tell me, how many years left till you graduate?"

"About two," she replied, still walking back but was stopped as she felt her back pressed up against the wall of the Girl's Dorm.

"Now tell me, what will happen between you and your love then. What will happen to you two once you both graduate?"

Her face was filled with concern; she had never thought that far ahead. But he could only grin from ear to ear. "I see, you finally understand," he pressed his hand against the wall behind her, hidden by the shadows, she was pinned, "that is why it will never work; once graduation you will be lucky if you two were to ever see each other again. Your heart will be in never ending pain. What a delight that is to hear, the sound of the string of faith cut."

He then moved back. "You're lucky once again, I don't like busty blondes as my slaves; I prefer petite," he then walked off, chuckling. "But if you want lust from the boy; that would work with your short time limit."

Alexis fell to her knees, so much information was given to her in that short amount of time; it was too much for her to bear. "A-Alexis?" a familiar voice called out to her.

She looked up, to see it was Jaden. She used her arm to wipe of the tears and said. "Hi Jaden, what brings you here?"

"I just came to make sure you were feeling better; you know after that incident with, Bloodlust," he replied, rubbing the back of his head.

She stood back up, towering over the Ra duelist. "Yeah, I'm fine."

It seemed like an uncomfortable silence filled the air till Alexis added. "I-Is that all?"

He had on his usual dumbfounded smile. "Yup, that's it. Glad you're feeling better Alexis. Well I have a date with the side of my pillow, see you tomorrow."

He ran off to the Ra dorm as she headed back to hers. Unaware that Sword Hunter watched this whole thing, giggling. "Everyone knows nothing can happen unless some conflict is added; oh how much fun I'm going to have here."

"Just don't screw anything up like you normally do," Shadow added when he walked by, causing her to childishly stick her tongue at him.

"Just go have fun with your mind-warped dolls and let me have my fun."

To Be Continued

This Tournament has only just started, what do I have up my sleeve? Read and Review.


	17. Duel of the Darkness

Chapter 17: Duel of the Darkness

"Now I sacrifice, EARTH Agent: Doubleplay, to summon EARTH Agent: Hailfire," Fredi announced, sacrificing a human-like creature made out of diamond for another human-like creature which had his right side made out of ice and his left side made out of fire, bearing 2400 attack points against David's White Knight Lord bearing 2600 attack points.

David was winning this duel with 1200 life points against Fredi's 600 life points; but he looked down at his new deck with only malice. "Well, is that all?" David called out, actually wanting Fredi to destroy this creature plaguing his side of the field.

"No, because The EARTH Organization field card is in play, his effect activates, by sacrificing half of his attack points, I can attack you directly. "Agent Hailfire, use Hydro!"

Agent Hailfire's attack dropped to 1200 as he put his left and right hand together; a orb of water could easily be seen being formed between his hands as a geyser shot out, through the Knight, and right at David, dropping his life points to 0. "Winner of the fourth match to the second round of our tournament! Fredi Heat of Ad Tech Duel Academy!"

* * *

The sun was setting on the beach where most of the students were enjoying their afternoon fun.

But an engine could be heard getting louder, so the girls look out to see none other than Alexis's Brother Atticus riding in on his jet ski. "Hey there, ladies! Hope I'm not to late to enjoy the fun!" he called out.

All of the girl's eyes turned heart shaped. "Oh Atticus," they all called out as he waved to them.

He came up to the beach where all of the girl's were running towards him. "Ladies, one at a time; there is plenty of Atticus for all of you."

But the girls trampled past him. His body started to twitch as he stood back up, seeing all of the girl's surrounding Edgar. "Sorry ladies, I have only one flower for my heart."

All of the girls pouted and walked back to the beach just as Edgar walked up to Atticus; wearing his Dragon Gang Leader overcoat. The head of a Red Eyes Black Dragon on his left shoulder, the tail as his right, and the wings as the back and part of the front. Edgar chuckled in his dark tone. "My Dragon was right, its family is close; where is your Red Eyes?"

Atticus was a bit shocked. "How do you know I have Red Eye's?"

Edgar chuckled again. "How you say; my Red Eye's told me. It tells me that you have its family but you are against using them. I can't let that stand for a fellow dragon."

Dark memories of when he was Nightshroud started to flash into his mind. "I have my reasons," Atticus replied in a dark tone.

"Well then, I will duel you for them," Edgar replied in a sinister tone, a grin darker than twelve moonless nights graced his lips.

Atticus grabbed the deck and handed it to him. "Here, take it; I don't need it anyway."

But Edgar backed away, his eyes filled with hatred. "How dare you treat a dragon with such disrespect! You don't even give them a fighting chance, do you think that little of them?"

"I have my own reason not to duel with these cards!" Atticus shouted back.

"Well I don't care; the only way I will get those dragons is after they have the chance to fight at their full power. I can at least allow them that," The Leader of the Dragon Gang replied, his teeth now sharp and his eyes flashing red.

Atticus could see the darkness surrounding his deck, not to sure if to insert it into his duel disk. But he new this was the only way he could finally get rid of his past known as Nightshroud. So he entered the deck and announced. "Let's duel!"

Edgar drew his card. "Now, time to get this duel started with a bang; because I play Red Eyes Black Chick to the field," he announced, summoning a red egg to the field which broke to reveal the baby red eyes, "but don't think I'm done yet because I send him to the graveyard to summon, Red Eyes Black Dragon!"

The large black dragon was summoned to the field as Edgar revealed his Magic card. "Now I play the spell, Inferno Fire Blast! Letting him attack your life points directly!"

Edgar's Red Eyes charged up its attack and fired, hitting Atticus and dropping his life points down to 1600. "I will end my turn."

Atticus drew his card and already the darkness started to return to his mind. "Use it," the dark voice of Nightshroud said in his head, "it is the only way to fight, use it."

Atticus put his hands to his head as the dark energy started to surround him. "No, I won't," he stated. "I will now summon, Spirit Ryu to the field in attack mode."

The dragon appeared on the field with only 1000 attack points. "But now I activate its special ability, by sending two dragons to the graveyard from my hand, I can increase the attack of Ryu by 2000 till the end of this turn. So by discarding these two," he said as he sent Snatch Dragon and Spear Dragon into his graveyard, "my monster increases to 3000 attack!"

The Dragon rose to 3000. "Now attack his Red Eyes with Spirit Blast!" Atticus commanded as the dragon attacked and destroyed Edgar's dragon, sending him to 3400. "I will end my turn."

Ryu went back to 1000 attack points as Edgar drew his card. "That's more like it, unleash the power of the dragons," he said as he looked at his cards. "Now I play, Swords of Revealing Light, placing one card on the field then end my turn; I want to see your true power."

"Play the card!" Nightshroud yelled in his head, "you know you need me, play the card and allow the darkness to take control."

Atticus drew his next card. "No, I don't need you; I never needed you."

But the darkness was too intense and before he knew it, the mask was back on his face. "You're not the only one with a dark side, Edgar," Nightshroud chuckled, "now time to see the real power of the darkness."

Edgar grinned with his sharp teeth. "Then, let me see it."

"First I need to get rid of these pesky lights so first I play Mystical Space Typhoon, destroying the swords," Nightshroud announced, using the tornado to rid the field of the swords, "now I play this spell card, Resurrection of the Dragon; this card allows me to tribute a dragon on my side of the field and summon a dragon from your graveyard. So I send my Spirit Ryu to the graveyard and take your Red Eyes."

Ryu disappeared and Edgar's Red Eyes was summoned to the field. "But it's not staying for long, because I tribute it for Red Eyes Darkness Dragon!"

Edgar could only stand in awe as the darkest of the Red Eyes Black Dragon was summoned to the field, even the Earth shook to its presents. "Now his special ability kicks in, because I have three dragons in my graveyard, its attack raises to 3300."

Red Eyes Darkness Dragon rose to 3300 attack. "Now, attack Edgar's life points directly!"

The Dragon roared loudly, the shockwave hit Edgar and his life points dropped to 100. "Now, how is that for the power of the dark dragon? Leader of the Dragon Gang?"

Edgar brushed himself off. "That was impressive, but still quite weak; it barely made me flinch."

"What?" Nightshroud asked angrily.

"It is because you are in a constant battle with your good side that your destructive power is drastically reduced," Edgar replied in his dark tone, "if you ever want to reach your true power, you need to," then his voice, eyes and teeth return to normal, "work together with your dark side, only once you embrace it," slowly the dark aura surrounded Edgar once again, his eyes a darker shade of red and his teeth looked to be filed down to a point, "can you become truly powerful. Now, is it my turn yet?"

Nightshroud grinded his teeth. "Fine, but why bother, I will win next turn."

The dark aura increased ten fold around the Leader of the Dragon Gang. "Do you really think this match will last another turn?!" he yelled, drawing his card, "I play Pot of Greed, drawing two cards."

He pulled out his two cards and grinned. "Now I activate my face down card, Call of the Haunted, bringing back my Red Eyes Black Dragon to the field," Edgar announced as his dragon returned to the field," But now I play Polymerization! Fusing the Red Eyes I have on the field with the two I have in my hands for my ultimate monster, Red Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"

The three dragons fused into one giant creature with three heads as he revealed the final card in his hand. "Now I play, Rage of the Red Eyes; since my life points are already at 100 there's nothing much I can do there as the effect activates, letting me summon any Red Eyes creature I have to the field. So I summon Red Eyes Metal Dragon, Black Skull Dragon, Meteor Black Dragon and finally Red Eyes Black Dragon to the field."

They were all summoned to the field, towering over Nightshroud and his Red Eyes Darkness Dragon. "Now my Dragon's, show him what true destructive power the Darkness can bring! ONSLAUGHT!"

All of his dragons fired at once, annihilating Atticus's dragon and what ever was left of his life points. His mask shattered as he was thrown a good distance away until his back slammed against the cliff.

Atticus fell, a clear impression could be seen on the side of the cliff he just hit as he himself was out cold. Edgar only chuckled as he bent down and took Atticus's deck. "Now the dragons are with their true master, all is well."

He walked off while a crowd of girls instantly surrounded the unconscious Atticus. Edgar looked down at the deck to see Red Eyes Darkness Dragon. "Not to mention another Red Eyes is back with its family. What a great time I had at the beach today."

To Be Continued

If Edgar was dark before, now he has the Darkness Dragon. What other evil do I have in mind for the students of Duel Academy? Read and review to find out.


	18. A dark plan

Chapter 18: A dark plan

It was the match between Bloodlust and Dawn in the tournament; Dawn knew she couldn't slip up or she would leave Nicole alone to defend their school title. She wasn't going to hold back during this match. "For my first move," she announced, "I put three cards face down and place one monster face down defense and I end my turn."

The cards appeared on the field as she lied and wait, all she had to do was let him draw his card. "I draw," Bloodlust said, drawing his card.

"You activated my three trap cards!" Dawn yelled, revealing the cards. "They are called Secret Barrel! Now for every card on your field and hand, you take 200 life point damage. Since you have six cards in your hand, each cannon hits you with 1200 direct damage!"

The cannons came up from the ground, charged and fired, hitting Bloodlust and draining his life points down to 400. But he didn't even flinch from that move where anyone else would have been completely speechless.

"It looks like that innocent flower is a bit darker than I realized," Edgar stated.

"Oh," Jasmine asked, her bottom lip quivering from that statement, "what do you mean by that?"

Edgar waved his hands in defense. "I didn't mean it like that; you know you're the only flower for me."

Instantly she wrapped her arms around his, resting her head on his shoulder. "And don't you forget it."

Back to the duel, Bloodlust started to twitch. "So, are you scared?" Dawn ask.

But she was answered by his hysterical laughter, which interned caused her to flinch from fear. "Ah what an opening move; it's been awhile since I have been caught by surprise like that. This is going to be fun."

He then looked at his hand, just to reveal his smile; a smile that would make even the mightiest of warrior shake in their boots. "First I play this spell card; 7 Sins: Gluttony, taking 1000 life points from you and adding it to me."

There his life points went up to 1400 where hers dropped to 3000. "Next I play the Night Assailant in attack mode," then the skull face creature formed on his side of the field, bearing its dagger with a blood lust in its eyeless sockets, "but don't think I'm done as I also play the spell card, 7 Sins: Pride, raising its attack by double!."

A dark energy was clearly seen around the monster, raising its attack to 2400. "Now my assailant, destroy the monster with blood lust strike!"

His creature attacked the face-down monster, destroying a Needle Worm. "Now my card's effect activates, making you discard the next five cards from the top of your deck," Dawn informed.

Bloodlust bared his fangs as he drew the five cards from the top of his deck. But quickly that anger turned into pure joy. "Thanks, you helped me so much."

This confused the young duelist. "What are you talking about?"

He then revealed the five cards, and to everyone's horror it was the five remaining 7 Sin spell cards. "N-No, it can't be!"

"It is!" Bloodlust announced with only pure enjoyment dripping off his words, placing the cards into the grave he added. "Now you have allowed me to summon, Lord!"

The giant being was summoned to the field, bearing its 4000 attack points. "And since it was special summon, it's still the battle phase. So my Lord, destroy the rest of her life points!"

Its large hand came down on the duelist, too scared by the appearance of the large beast to even move out of its way.

A dust cloud was formed as its hand crash down on Dawn, reducing her life points to 0. "Winner of the fifth match in the second round! Bloodlust of Vlad Duel Academy!" Crowler announce.

* * *

Alexis sat by Atticus in the nurses station after the duel; still being in the coma since the duel against Edgar two days ago. This reminded her of the dark times from last year; even for being an annoying older brother he was still her only brother. 

She cupped his hand in hers, holding back the tears brimming on her eye. She knew she had to be strong at a time like this but she didn't know it would still be this hard to do so.

She heard a knock on the door; quickly she wiped the tears with her arm and turned to see Jaden at the entrance. "Am I interrupting?" he asked above a whisper, slowly walking in.

She shook her head. "No, it's ok. I just wonder why I have a brother that is so accident prone," she let out a half hearted laugh to her own joke, just trying to hide the deep pain ripping inside of her written all over her face.

"Just lucky I guess," he replied, sounding oblivious to what Alexis really meant.

It became silent in that room, the only sound was coming from the machines around Atticus and the footsteps coming from Jaden walking up to her.

The footsteps stopped as he stood next to the Queen of Obelisk Blue. "Ah, Alexis... I don't mean to bring up more dark memories at a time like this, but," to her he sounded nervous, an unusual aspect from the laid back hero of Duel Academy, "but do you remember the duel, between me and Bloodlust?"

Quickly, the memory of her bound by chains flooded back into her mind; how her body was paralyzed with fear she couldn't even move. Tears started to seep down her cheeks as she replied. "Y-Yes... I remember."

"Something has been bothering me, about that incident," he rubbed the back of his head, seeming to have a hard time finding the words to say, "I felt like I was going to lose that match... until some memories flashed in my mind."

She didn't even turn her head to face the Ra student; not wanting to show him her current condition. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure myself," Jaden added, "it started out as all of us: Syrus, Bastian, you and I; just having fun. But as it went on, they disappeared till only you were left," hearing this made her eyes open wide, remembering what Dawn said about Jaden, "but after that I felt like my old self. Do you have any idea why?"

The words of what Dawn said screamed in her mind, how he had a crush on someone but didn't know himself; only if the person who he card for paid attention would figure out. But at the same time, she remembered the darker words; how if she went along with this only pain would come of it, how the happiness would only last a short time. "Maybe, it was the memories of how your friends gave you the strength to love to duel."

She shed another tear, the only thing she hated doing more than anything was lie in that way. "Huh, that must be it," Jaden replied with his usual carefree tone, "thanks Alexis, and everyone hopes your brother gets better soon."

"T-Tell everyone, I said t-thanks," she replied, still trying to hold back as much of her tears as possible.

But as soon as Jaden left, she heard Atticus speak. "Come on, Sis; that tone never worked for you."

A relieved smile quickly graced her face. "Atticus, you're awake!" she cheered, but quickly became shocked, "how long have you been awake?"

He sat up on his bed, smiling at his little sister. "Long enough; but even I knew you were lying. I thought you said you didn't have any feelings for him."

She wiped her tears, only to then reveal a small blush on her cheeks. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said the kind of lie that didn't bother her; quickly looking away from her brother.

But unknowing to her, just like Shadow an older sibling can read a younger sibling's face like a book, but like a good older brother he knew when to drop it. "Alright, if you say so Sis. Now, what have I missed?"

* * *

Jaden walked down the hall of the school; even for class being over for the day some of the students loitered the halls. Though he felt like Alexis was right, he still felt that there was another reason for those memories. 

But his small train of thought was interrupted by the beauty of Vlad High. "Hey there, Jaden," she skipped towards him, causing the male students in the halls to grow hearts in their eyes; stopping in front of the laid back Ra. "Well, round two is almost over and that leaves Kristen, you and I left. I sure hope that it's Kristen that gets the by so we get to have our fun."

He smiled. "Yeah, I would love to duel you; I kind of miss my first duel and would like to have a win under my belt."

She couldn't help but giggle from his confidence. "Oh my," she flirted, rubbing her index finger up and down his chest; this touch of hers would make any guy weak at the knees, "aren't we cocky."

But once again, he seemed to be completely unaffected by her spell. "Yeah, you could say that. Because I'm not planning on losing in our match."

She giggled once again from his actions, moving her hand away from her chest and using it to flick the strands of hair away from her faces; tucking it behind her ear. "Well, the same goes for me. So don't let your guard down or your life points will hit 0 before you know it."

She then skipped away, causing the guys watching this to collapse; bearing a large smile on their faces and beating eyes.

* * *

This beauty continued to skip till she came up on a classroom; sneaking in when no one was looking to meet back up with her friends from Vlad Duel Academy. "I don't know about you guys," Sword Hunter commented to her friends, stretching her arms in the air, "but I only know one type of guy that isn't affected by a girl's touch." 

"Maybe you are just losing your touch," TNT replied but quickly regretted it, as before he knew it she stood behind him with a knife to his neck.

"You, of all people, should know the real reason I have this nickname," she replied, her tone still sounding with its usual innocents but a bone chilling pitch was added with it.

But TNT grinned. "And you should know my nickname doesn't just come from being my initials."

She grinned and pulled back as Bloodlust could only chuckle. "It's good to see you more active," but then he looked at Shadow, who seemed unusually depressed, "but something is wrong with you, usually you would have come up with a cleaver remark by now."

Shadow groaned. "Not that many petite girls here, it's such a shame," he replied with sincerity in his voice, "and I thought women of this ethnicity it was common. So far I only have five slaves."

Bloodlust swirled the wine glass in his hand, filled with a red liquid. "That is a pity; but any ideas why Jaden isn't falling for the Queen of Vlad Duel Academy's spell?"

"It is because he is an idiot," Virus replied; keeping up with the conversation as she focused on her laptop; typing a program to a new game design.

Shadow chuckled to their computer expert friend's statement. "I will have to agree with Virus, he is just too stupid to realize the feelings of others."

Sword Hunter then rubbed her chin; an idea quickly growing in her sadistic mind. "But, that doesn't mean the people around him are as stupid," she giggled to her plan, "oh I hope I can duel with Jaden soon."

"Done," Virus replied, hitting the enter key on her computer, "your next duel will be tomorrow against Jaden."

All of a sudden, the tall girl was hugged tightly by Sword Hunter. "Oh thank you my dearest friend! You are the best!"

Quickly, Virus's face started to turn blue. "C-Can't... breathe."

Sword Hunter released her friend, hearing her lungs fill back up. She blushed from embarrassment. "Oops, sorry."

"So much fresh blood in this school," Bloodlust added, drinking the red liquid, "how much fun this is going to be."

To Be Continued

What do the students of Vlad Academy have planned, is Jaden really that stupid, and what will Alexis sort through these feelings? Read and review to find out.


	19. Truth to Lies

Chapter 19: Truth to Lies

Sartorius look out of his window onto an unsuspecting world, watching as the waves hit the island as David walked into the room. "You wanted to see me... Master Sartorius?" David asked, grinding his teeth to the mention of that word.

"Yes, David," the leader of the Society stated, "I wanted to thank you on how well you have been managing the Society of Light as my second in command. I hope you are honored that I've even allow you to have such a high rank."

David bowed. "Yes Sartorius; and I have been upholding the position the best I can."

"I have seen, but there is also something I wanted to know," the older man stated, turning around to face the duelist, "why does it seem like the Society is so active when I have not given any orders?"

"Because we are preparing for your order, Sartorius; to finally bathe this world in light," David replied.

Sartorius grinned as he turned to face the window once again. "I forgot that your skills focus on preparing for anything that can happen, but you forget I can see the future and destiny states that soon this world will be covered in light."

David's eyes twitched to hearing that. "I see, but the other members are getting restless and are awaiting your orders..."

But David was cut off as Sartorius held up two fingers. "Two days; tell them I will I've the order in two days."

David bowed again. "Yes, Sartorius."

* * *

It was the next day at school and everything seemed to be a bit on the eerie side. It was hard to describe and couldn't quite place their finger on it so the students just carried on with their everyday life.

Alexis walked down the hall with her older brother, just gotten out of the hospital bay. He kept telling her he was fine but she wasn't taking no for an answer.

"Come on, Sis; I'm fine," he stated for the twentieth time since breakfast.

But Alexis turned to face him. "You just came out of a coma from a head injury, Atticus, she ranted, "so until the end of the day I'm going to make sure you are alright since I can see you can't take care of yourself."

"But Sis, wouldn't you rather be with Jaden on a day like this?" Atticus asked.

After saying that he was expecting one of his sister's rants about he wasn't her boyfriend or just some kind of scolding with her usual fiery passion. But instead, her eyes became soft, almost to the brink of tears then turned her back to him and replied. "Come on, we will be late for class."

This action shocked him as he watched his little sister walk away, looking down at the floor. He was about to ask her but his attention diverted as he saw Edgar walking towards them with Jasmine by his side.

Edgar stopped as he saw Atticus then looked to the beauty on his arm. "Can you save me a seat, Jasmine? I need to have a chat with a friend of mine."

She nodded and smiled. "Just don't keep me waiting."

She skipped off to class as Edgar turned his direction back to the once ladies man of Duel Academy. "Good to see you're out of your coma... what's your name again?"

"Atticus," replied in a dark tone as Alexis was in the middle of this.

"Well, Atticus; I never wanted to do that but my dark side can be unaware of his own strength," his eyes turned red and chuckled in a dark tone, "but I have to admit, I think I got a new personal record for distance with you."

"Why am I not surprised you had something to do with this, Edgar?" Alexis asked in a darker tone than her brothers.

"What are you talking about, sis?"

She quickly remembered what he did to Jaden, how she found him beaten to the inch of death and his cards scattered around his body. Her hands formed into fist. "He was the one who beat up Jaden."

Edgar chuckled again. "The little Hero had it coming to him."

"With your actions I could have you pulled out of this tournament!"

But then, Edgar looked straight into Alexis's eyes. In that instant, her entire body felt like it was completely numb. "But you won't tell," his voice them became even darker, sounding like a threat, "will you?"

Her body wanted to speak but for some reason no words were coming out.

Atticus stepped between the two. "Are you threatening my sister?"

Edgar shook his head to that statement. "Sorry, but I can't harm a pretty lady. It's the only rule my good side put up," he then turned his back to them, "see you later."

As Atticus watched the teen walk to class, he turned back towards his sister to see her breathing heavily. "Sis, are you alright?"

Her heart felt like it was racing as the feeling of her body returned. "I-I'm not sure."

* * *

Afternoon at class, usually this time Jaden was fast asleep during one of Dr. Crowler's lecture but he was wide awake; yet his attention would be the same as if he was asleep. He couldn't help but think about those memories.

No matter how much he thought about it his gut feeling kept telling him that they meant something more than his love for dueling, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

He remembered that something had to be deeper about those memories from what Aquos said, but now he couldn't focus on anything else but it.

He could feel the answer on the tip of his tongue, but lost it when the sound of the bell signaled the end of that class and an announcement from Chancellor Sheppard followed. "Well our final match in the second round is about to begin as the matches are: Sword Hunter of Vlad Duel Academy," all of the guys cheered to hearing this, "VS our very own Jaden Yuki!"

But after hearing that, everyone groaned, booed or called him a loser; still a bit ticked from the match he bailed on in the first round combined with the popularity of Sword Hunter.

"Don't listen to them, Jay," his faithful friend Syrus stated, "once you beat Sword Hunter everyone will be back on your side... well except everyone apart of the Sword Hunter Fan Club; which is actually every guy on campus so forget I said anything."

Jaden seemed to snap out of a daze. "I'm sorry Syrus, did you say something?"

Syrus sulked. "No," but then looked energetic again, "so, how are you going to beat her?"

Jaden blinked twice. "Beat who?"

Syrus was now dumbfounded. "Your match with Sword Hunter; it's the final duel of the second round! It's starting in ten minutes!"

"Oh that," he replied without any enthusiasm at all, "I don't know."

But now, his friend was concerned. "Jaden, is something wrong? This is the first time I have seen you without any energy for a duel."

"I don't know why myself; I just don't feel like it right now."

"Awe, that's too bad," a familiar cheery tone stated, causing the two boys to look up and see Sword Hunter looking down on them which made Syrus turn into a love daze, "because what fun will are time be without you at 100 percent? Don't dissatisfy me during our match."

She then giggled. "Don't worry, once the duel starts I will get back into the game," he replied, yet not sounding too sure of it himself.

"Well, I have something that might help," she then pulled out a small one ear headphone and handed it to him.

He accepted it. "What's this for?"

She giggled. "You will have to find out during our duel, make sure you have it on."

* * *

Sword Hunter then skipped away and exited the room to meet up with Virus. "So, is everything up and running?"

Virus nodded, but Shadow couldn't help but add as he walked by. "As long as you don't screw up like you usually do."

She childishly stuck her tongue at him. "Well, it looks like you're in a better mood."

"Master, we saved you a seat," seven petite girls stated as they walked up to him.

He grinned at Sword Hunter. "You could say that."

* * *

Quickly the auditorium was filling up as Atticus led his sister through the doors. "Are you sure you are alright, Alexis?" a concerned brother asked.

She nodded. "Yes brother I'm fine, you don't need to look over me."

After hearing that, Atticus couldn't help but chuckle. "What's so funny?" she snapped.

"It just feels like déjà vu from this morning."

She frowned. "Well that was completely different. You just came out of a coma."

"And you suffered symptoms similar to a panic attack."

She groaned at her brother and turned around, accidentally bumping into Virus. "Oh, sorry."

It was strange for the beauty of Duel Academy since Virus was the only girl she had to look up to make eye contact with. Virus didn't answer but nodded, walking off with a computer case by her side.

"Not a talkative girl is she?" Atticus commented.

But this made Alexis wonder. "Why did she bring a computer to a tournament match?"

"Probably to collect data," the brother replied without a second thought, "now come on and let's get a good seat."

* * *

Virus sat with her friends, taking her computer out of the case and setting it up on her lap. "Everything is up and running, I'm in the speaker system."

Bloodlust chuckled. "Oh, this is going to be fun."

"Now all that moron has to do is wear that headphone of my design," TNT added.

"And the fun begins," Shadow commented.

* * *

The lights became dim around the audience as a spotlight hit the Doctor. "Well it feels like this match just started and already we are through Round 2. And what better way to end it than the complete slaughter of that slack... I mean this duel between two high level duelists!"

The audience cheered as Crowler continued. "Now, let us all give a big round of applause to Vlad Duel Academy's, Sword Hunter!"

Banners, posters and countless students of the male variety cheered their lung and hearts out as she walked up on the platform, strutting as if she was a runway model then adding the seductive wink.

"And now, our very own duelist, Jaden Yuki!" Crowler announced.

Then as Jaden walked out, the auditorium became dead silent except for the cheers of his closest friends. Bloodlust could only chuckle to this action. "I bet that had to hurt, that not even his own school will cheer him on."

Crowler looked at the dead silent audience; either their attention was somewhere else or they were glaring at the once energetic duelist of Duel Academy. So Crowler added. "And don't forget, Sword Hunter!"

Just after hearing that, the auditorium was once again bursting with cheers as Sword Hunter blushed. "Ah come now, you're all too kind."

Then after the two students shuffled their decks and returned to their sides, Jaden saw Sword Hunter pointing to a head phone on her head which reminded him to pull out his.

He still didn't have a clue what it was for, but he put it on anyway just as Crowler announced. "Begin!"

"Let's Duel!" they both called out, starting the match with 4000 life points.

"Ladies first," she called out, drawing her sixth card then thought. _Let the fun begin._

She looked at her hand gave her oh so innocent smile. "Well, all I can do is play Marauding Captain in attack mode," she announced, playing the monster on the field with 1200 attack, "but since he hates fighting alone, he allows me to summon another four star monster from my hand, so I summon Command Knight to the field."

The female warrior was summoned to the field as she added. "Now that she is on the field, all warriors get a 400 attack bonus," then Marauding Captain went up to 1600 and Command Knight went up to 1800, "and I end my turn. But since I have these monsters on the field, you can't attack either one of them."

Jaden drew his card, but as soon as he did she announced. "Now every time it's your standby phase, I'm going to ask you a question."

Jaden looked befuddled. "Why?"

She put on a sad face. "Because I want to know more of the famous Jaden Yuki, and that headphone will make it so everyone else can hear your answer as well. Think of this as an Interview Duel," then her bottom lip quivered and she turned her head, "b-but if you don't want to," she sniffled, "I'll understand."

Just then, an uproar ensnared the male audience, hating anyone who would make Sword Hunter cry. "Alright," Jaden replied nervously, "I have nothing to hide."

Faster than a lightening bolt striking the ground, her personality flipped back its cheery self. "Good to hear," she then innocently put her index finger to her cheek and looking up as if to find a question in the air, "now, what first got you into dueling? I want to see you answer these questions full of energy."

TNT looked ticked off. "What is she doing?"

"Calm down, TNT," Bloodlust replied, "she knows what she is doing."

Shadow smirked. "I have to admit it, she even shocked me with this plan; right now she is just getting him warmed up so no one will be the wiser when the plan goes forth."

Jaden actually put some thought into it and a grin came on his face. "Because it's so much fun," he replied, sounding as if his energy was returning to normal, "I mean, all of the different card combinations, the duels themselves and not to mention how many good friends you can make through this game."

She giggled. "Oh my, I'm so glad to hear that."

He then looked at his cards, then back at the wall he had to face. "I now play, Polymerization," he announced, "fusing Elemental Hero Sparkman with Clayman to summoned, Elemental Hero Thundergiant!"

The large creature was summoned to the field. "My my, what a strong looking creature you've got there," Sword Hunter commented, "too bad with my wall you can't even declare an attack."

"Well that's what the special effect of my Thundergiant is," he replied with a grin, "once per turn I can discard a card from my hand," he sent Necroshade to the graveyard, "my Thundergiant can destroy one monster on the field with less attack points them him. So destroy her Command Knight!"

"Oh my," she stated in an innocent tone, "that was powerful."

"That was nothing, he hasn't even attacked yet. So destroy her Captain with Static Blast!"

The hero launched his attack and destroyed her monster, dropping her down to 2800. "Ouch, that attack was powerful."

The male crowd was in an uproar as she added. "But if you ask me, that hero of your's sounds more like a bully."

This confused the duelist. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it; he is a big guy and his special ability beats up a weaker monster. That's not a hero at all," she accused and the crowd agreed with her.

Jaden looked at his giant. "I never thought of it like that."

"Well, end your turn so I have some kind of chance to defend myself from such a bully you sent at me," she replied with a quivering bottom lip.

He nodded. "I end my turn," Jaden announced.

Sword Hunter grinned. "I draw," she added a giggle, "well if this isn't irony. I discard one card from my hand to activate the spell card, Lightning Vortex! So your Thundergiant is destroyed by a bolt of lightning."

Just like she said, his monster was destroyed from that assault. "Now, I will summon my Gearfried the Iron Knight to the field in attack mode," she announced with an 1800 attack power monster was summoned, "Now, attack his life points directly."

Her knight obeyed, attacking straight at Jaden and dropping his life points to 2200. "Now I will end my turn."

Jaden drew his card. "It's your standby phase again, time for the next question," Sword Hunter called out cheerfully, "now everyone knows that you are friends with Zane's little brother, Syrus. But, are you just friends with him to raise your stats as a great duelist by comparison?"

Jaden was a bit shocked by this question. "No way, me and Syrus are best pals and I know he is a great duelist."

But strangely, all the students heard over the speaker system was. "Yeah, what better way to make yourself look good than having an incompetent duelist by your side?"

The students of Vlad Duel Academy could only chuckle to the dead silence in the audience as Syrus and his friends couldn't believe their ears.

Sword Hunter giggled. "Well, if that's how you want to put it, continue with your turn."

* * *

With the Vlad students, Shadow asked. "So there is no way Jaden will hear what is being heard in the audience?"

TNT chuckled. "That is the second part to my little device; he can't hear anything beyond Sword Hunter and the cheering from the audience."

"Well, he is going to be given a rude awakening after this match," Bloodlust added.

* * *

Jaden looked at his hand. "I play two cards face down and special summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman to the field," he announced at the monster appeared on his field with 800 attack points, "now because he was summoned alone I draw two cards."

He then pulled out his two cards. "Now I play, Pot of Greed, drawing two more cards," then after he has 3 cards in his hand he calls out. "I play the spell card, Metamorphous, replacing Bubbleman with Elemental Hero Neo Bubbleman."

It didn't look like much happened as he summoned another 800 attack point monster in its place. "Now I equip him with Bubble Blaster, raising his attack to 1600 and have him attack your Gearfried the Iron Knight!"

The jettison of water hit the knight, but nothing happened. "Well, that was a waste."

Jaden smiled. "Not really, because if I remove Bubble Blaster I take no damage," the gun was destroyed, dropping down to 800 attack, "and any monster that battles with Neo Bubbleman, is automatically destroyed."

Her monster exploded before her eyes. "Then I will end my turn."

She wiped off the tears from her eyes. "He was one of my most favorite knights, how could you be so cruel?"

The crowd was in an uproar again as she drew her card. "I also play the spell card, Pot of Greed to draw two cards," she then drew her two cards. "Fun, now I play The Warrior Returning Alive, getting back one warrior from my Graveyard and back to my hand."

She then pulled out her Marauding Captain. "Now I summon my Marauding Captain to the field in attack mode where I get to special summon Trojan Horse to the field in defense mode."

The two cards were summoned to the field as she announced. "Now my Marauding Captain, attack his Bubbleman!"

The warrior slashed at Neo Bubbleman, destroying it and dropping Jaden to 1800. "But because of my monster's effect, your monster is destroyed as well," Jaden informed.

Her Marauding Captain blew up before her. "I thought as much, so I place one card face down and end my turn."

Jaden drew. "Question time," she called out in a cheery tone, "now, you are friends with both Chazz and Bastian, both being intelligent when it comes to dueling. But do you just hang around them to show that even a kid with your grades can beat them?"

Jaden was then stunned by another one of her questions. "No, they are my friends."

But all the audience heard was. "Sure, why not?"

"Why that little slacker!" Chazz cursed to himself.

"Huh, I never guessed that all this time Jaden was just a jerk," Mindy commented.

But Alexis was watching this carefully, she knew Jaden would never say things like this; something must be going on.

But back to the match, Jaden looked at his new card. "I summon, Neo-Spacian Air Hummingbird to the field in attack mode," he called out as the strange creature was summoned to the field, "now his special ability activates, for every card in your hand you lose 500 life points where I get those 500 life points."

She looked at the three cards in her hand sprout large flowers as his monster drained them, dropping her life points to 1300 and his life points went up to 3300. "Now I play H-Heated Heart, raising him to 1300; attack her monster!"

"You activated my Trap Card, Sakuretsu Armor," she announced as she revealed her card, "this card activates as soon as you declare an attack, automatically destroying the attacking monster!"

Air Hummingbird was destroyed in front of him as that's all he could do. "I end my turn."

She drew her card. "Well, now this is going to be fun. Because if I sacrifice my Trojan horse for an Earth Attribute monster, it counts as a double sacrifice. So I sacrifice my Horse to summon, Sword Hunter!"

The wooden horse disappeared to summon a giant warrior to fight for her. "Oh, but don't think this will be your challenge. Because I now send him to the remove from play to special summon my personal favorite card, Sword Hunter ♀!"

The her large warrior disappeared and interned summoned a woman who greatly resembled the duelist herself; except she wore a leather two piece, a mask made of blades, and two katanas on her waist with 2800 attack points; many fans got card crushes at that instant. "Oh yes, this is going to hurt, because I equip my monster with Quarto Blades, increasing her attack by 1000."

Then, on her legs and arms, the female warrior was equipped with large blades and rose to 3800. "Now, finish this match with Quarto Slash!"

"I activate my spell card," Jaden announced, "Mirage of Nightmares, letting me draw four cards then activating Emergency Provisions, getting rid of Mirage of Nightmares to gain 1000 life points."

Jaden rose up to 4300 just as Sword Hunter ♀ attacked, dropping him to 500 life points. "Oh darn, I was so close too. I will end my turn but FYI; Sword Hunter gains 500 attack points for every monster she destroys and with Quarto Blades if she destroys a monster she gets to attack again."

He drew his card. "Last question of the match," she stated, being so sure that this match was hers, "what type of girl are you interested in?" she asked in a seductive tone.

Jaden was now a bit nervous to this question. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on," she winked, "what kind of girl gets you to get weak in the knees? Petite or busty; tall or short, quiet or wild? Come on, you can tell little young me."

"A girl... I am interested in?" he asked himself, not truly sure on how to answer that, never really putting much thought past his love of dueling.

Then those memories started to flood back into his mind, images of when he was with Alexis the most. From when he asked what fiancée meant to the time he saved her from Bloodlust.

But before he could answer, Sword Hunter waves it off. "Forget it, just make your move."

Was that what his heart was trying to tell him with his memories? But as he looked at his cards to see Neos, Groun Mole and Aquos; his Neo-Spacians were right there by his side, was it because he found out something deeper than his love of dueling.

"Anytime now," Sword Hunter called out, "I'm not getting any younger over here."

He snapped out of his daze and a smile. "You know, this was a tough match; but I hope we can do this again soon."

She put on an innocent confused face. "Oh, you sound so full of yourself. It almost sounds like you think you are going to win."

"Well watch and see," he announced, "now, because my Necroshade is in the graveyard I can normal summon a monster without a sacrifice!"

"Hold on, when did you ever play Necroshade?" Sword Hunter asked.

"I discarded him to the graveyard when I used Thundergiant's effect," he replied, "So now I summon, Elemental Hero Neos to the field in attack mode."

The monster was summoned with 2500 attack points as Sword Hunter giggled. "Well, this is going to be quick."

"But I'm not finished," he announced, "because I play the spell card, Quick Summon, allowing me to summon Neo-Spacian Groun Mole in attack mode."

The strange alien was summoned to the field with 900 attack points as he added. "Now I don't even need a Polymerization to fuse them together into Elemental Hero Grand Neos!"

He sent the two monsters required back into his deck to summon the monster before him, yet still only with 2500 attack points. "Well that better have one heck of a special effect or you're still going to lose," she commented.

Jaden smiled his go-lucky grin. "You're right there, his ability let's me to select one card on your field back to your hand, so Sword Hunter ♀ goes back to your hand."

Sword Hunter was completely thrown off by this move as her most powerful card was sent back to her hand, leaving her life points wide open. "Now Elemental Hero Grand Mole, attack her life points directly with Grand Drill!"

Then with its drill arm, it thrusted right through her, dropping her life points down to 0.

Everyone was dumbfounded that Jaden defeated Sword Hunter, not even an applause was heard throughout the audience. "T-The winner is," Dr. Crowler announced, "Duel Academy's Jaden Yuki!"

The images disappeared as instead of cheers and applause, all that could be heard was the boos from the male audience followed by cries for Sword Hunter.

But Sword Hunter raised her hand in the air; quickly everyone silenced as she smiled. "Well, a deal is a deal, and Jaden Yuki was the first one to beat me."

She approached the energetic young duelist with a sadistic smile on her face. "You win my prize."

He scratched the side of his cheek. "What was the prize again?"

Every guy in the audience fell back in their seats from his stupidity while she only giggled. "Oh, just this."

She placed her hands on the side of his head and pulled him in for a kiss right on the lips. Everyone's eyes went wide as she deepened the kiss.

Jaden's face started to turn blue from the lack of breath and his hands started to twitch until she broke the kiss and he collapsed on the ground, his whole body completely numb with a large smile on his face.

She wiped off her lips with her arm, quickly hiding the headphone she just swiped from him. "I'm guessing that was your first kiss," she giggled, "if you want more kisses like that; I hope you get a girlfriend soon."

To Be Continued

Well, a war is about to begin. Read and Review.


	20. Uprising

Chapter 20: Uprising

David had a dream that night; it was a memory from four years ago just as the previous Chief gave his decision to give him the position as the new Chief. David was both shocked and honored of the new title, only being in the Curse Division before that, Number 13.

"But my Chief, I do not understand your decision," David replied in shock, "I am merely a Curse, and not even in the top 10."

The Chief could only chuckle. "Don't tell me you are going against an order from the Chief of the Gravekeeper's."

The twelve year old David shook his head. "No my Chief, if that is your decision I will run the Gravekeeper's to the best of my capabilities. But I'm still wondering why you would pick me above all others."

The Chief chuckled again. "Because not only are you a highly capable member of this Gang; it was you who figured out my riddle," he smiled, "what is the difference between someone titled Master and another titled Chief."

* * *

Just then, David's alarm went off, waking him out of a sound sleep. So he slammed his hand on the clock to shut it off, got up and got ready for the day. 

Just as he was about to get into his white uniform, he pushed it aside to see his Gravekeeper's Chief Uniform. He picked it up and gazed at it, remembering some of the memories before hand; how the previous Chief thought he would excel the gang farther than he ever could.

But he gently he set it back in the closet and pulled out his white uniform.

* * *

Later that day after classes, it was announced that the first match of the third round was against Sword Hunter and Kristen from Ad Tech Duel Academy; not to mention announced that Czar, Twister and Dawn were no longer in the Tournament. 

The auditorium was packed as everyone couldn't wait for the match to begin between these two lovely duelists. "Is everyone ready for the first match of the third round?" Dr. Crowler asked.

The audience cheered their lungs out as the strange doctor introduced the two duelists. "On my left, all the way from Vlad Duel Academy: the young Sword Hunter!"

The crowd put up banners, cheered, and whistled as Sword Hunter strutted onto the platform; winking and blowing kisses to the audience, causing them to fight over who she was aiming at when she did.

"Calm down you hooligans!" Crowler yelled at the audience to calm them down, and then looked at the one causing the trouble herself, who only gave him an innocent look, "Now, on my right, all the way from Ad Tech Duel Academy, Kristen Judo!"

She walked out onto the field, but was a bit annoyed that the guys were still cheering for Sword Hunter.

"Now shuffled each others decks," Dr. Crowler instructed as the two girls shuffled each others decks then returned to their places, "and begin!"

"Let's duel!" Kristen called out, but Sword Hunter just placed her hand over her deck.

"I surrender," she replied with a wink, "I don't duel girls."

Everyone was completely speechless from this act, except for her friends. "Not again," Shadow replied in annoyed tone."

"Do you understand by doing this that is your second lose and will be disqualified from the tournament?" Dr. Crowler asked.

She nodded. "You have to make sacrifices to stay by your standers."

"Alright," Crowler replied, and then announced, "Winner of the first match, Kristen Judo of Ad Tech Duel Academy!"

"Now!" Sword Hunter called out to the audience, "what strapping young duelist wants to duel little young me?"

The male audience cheered, causing Kristen to shake her head with a smile and a chuckle as she walked off the platform.

"Well," Sartorius commented, "that was shorter than expected."

"Don't tell me you didn't see that coming," David remarked with a sly grin.

Sartorius only chuckled. "I knew that Kristen would win, but I didn't want to know how the duel would go. That just spoils the show."

"Good point," David concurred, "but now we can get straight to the meeting with the other members; communication is already set up with the rest of the Society to hear your words by the cliff... Master Sartorius," he grinded his teeth at the mention of that word.

"Excellent," Sartorius replied with a sadistic smile, "because soon the world will finally be bathed in eternal light!"

* * *

The fleet of duelist in white uniforms stood by the edge of the cliff, facing the ocean just as the sun was setting; making the sky turn into an intoxicating shade of orange. 

The sound of the waves crashing against the walls as David walked up the platform, facing the society and the screens of the ones overseas as he announced. "And now, for the one that has opened our eyes to the light, let's hear it for, Sartorius!"

"All praise the Light!" they cheered in unison, extending their right arm out in front as Sartorius made his way onto the platform and David stepped to his right.

"What a glorious day this will be," Sartorius's voice boomed and echoed throughout the crowd, "because, this will be the day known as the day the world has finally been changed for the better; a day that this planet is out of the Age of Darkness and a blanket of light dispels it once and for all!"

"Now that I have all of your attention from all over the world, the plan can finally go forth!" he replied with enthusiasm, a large sadistic smile on his face.

But what was eerie to him, was after stating that, not a single member of the Society spoke up or cheered for the light. He looked around, not even one moving a muscle. "Do you want me to get them wild up again, Sartorius?" David asked.

Sartorius nodded. "If you wish, David."

David then walked out to the edge of the platform, raised his hand in the air and asked. "What are you loyal to?"

They all extended their right arms out in front of them, took in a deep breath and yelled. "The... Grave!"

The look on Sartorius's face completely flipped, to that of complete fear from what he just heard. But just then, he started to hear a soft chuckling so he turned to see it was coming from David.

Slowly, that laughter got stronger till it reached full blown hysteria. Then, David turned his head to look at the expression on Sartorius's face with a sadistic grin on his face. "Tell Sartorius again, where does your loyalty lie?"

"The Grave!" they cheered repeatedly.

"What is going on?" Sartorius asked in a confused state, looking out to see this horror, "we are here to bring the world into light!" he yelled.

"You don't get it do you," David asked in an annoyed tone, slowly approaching the leader of the Society of Light, "We prefer the darkness."

Sartorius couldn't have been more confused, almost completely out of breath from being taken by complete surprise. "But how... how did you break them out of my spell?"

David looked to be confused by his question. "You really don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?!" Sartorius yelled. "Answer me!"

David chuckled. "You're not really in the position to give orders anymore," by the time he finished that statement, Sartorius looked around him to realize that twelve Watchers have already surrounded him, glaring with only pure hatred at the one they use to regard as Master. "Well, you should at least know the difference between one titled Master and one titled Chief."

* * *

A flashback occurred as David was talking to his former Chief. "Master means one who only looks for his own self satisfaction by the hands of his followers and makes decisions without their help while Chief allows his people to help him make decisions and who looks to help his followers excel past their limitations." 

The Chief nodded. "That is correct, David; never forget that a Chief will always put the name of the gang and his people before that of his own; because a Chief could never get where he is without the efforts of those that are with him to the bitter end."

David bowed. "Yes my Chief, I will not go a day as the new Chief without doing so."

The Chief chuckled. "You don't need to bow to me anymore," then as David stood back up, the Chief was presenting him with his own Gravekeeper's Chief uniform, "because now, you are the Chief, Chief David."

David graciously and honorably accepted the outfit which stood for the up-most respect and responsibility within the Gravekeeper's as the Chief now bowed to him. "I know you will be able to excel the Gravekeeper's farther then I ever could."

* * *

The flashback ended as David looked up at Sartorius; even for only being half his size he made his cult fall. "So don't you understand, Sartorius? Respect is a two way street, not a one way like you envisioned it," David replied, smirking, "and everyone knows, true loyalty trumps simple mind control anytime." 

Just then, Mindy approached him with some papers and then grind as he read them. "Sartorius, or should I say... Surge of Light."

Sartorius grinded his teeth. "So, how long have you known?"

"That you are an alien from a spacial anomaly possessing this hack of a psychic," David shot back, "since the time you tried to take over Duel City, but I don't care if that body was possessed by a demon. Also, these papers here just informed me that the satellite you were planning on using is no more."

Sartorius was even more shocked. "H-How did you know?"

David glared, causing him to flinch. "That's what you get for underestimating the Gravekeeper's, especially the Spy Division. So for that, you will suffer the punishment known as the Iron Casket."

Four Guards carried up to the platform a large casket made of iron; the sound of a heavy thud slammed on the floor as the Guards opened the heavy doors. "Maybe being surrounded by darkness will help open your mind," David replied sadistically.

"You can't do this," the Surge of Light yelled, "by the terms of our agreement the Gravekeeper's are under my power. Are you saying you are going against your word?"

David only chuckled. "Well, our agreement became null and void we you got rid of the Gravekeeper's; without any Gravekeeper's my word lost all of its power. I can't believe you, of all people, didn't see that coming. Maybe you should have studied more in business."

Two Guards grabbed Sartorius by the arms and lead him to the Iron Casket, fighting them every step of the way.

But before they threw him in, David walked up. "Don't worry; there is air holes in it."

He then patted Sartorius on the shoulder for his goodbye, but as soon as he touched him he flinched from some static. From the shock he quickly snapped back his hand. "My Chief, are you alright?" Mindy asked in concern.

He flexed his hand and replied. "Yes, I'm fine," then motioned the Guards to throw Sartorius into the Casket, where they locked it up tight.

But then, David made another motion with his hand. The Guards nodded and with one good heave, the Casket flew over the edge of the cliff and straight into the ocean where it quickly sank to the bottom. "Oh yeah, air holes are a bad thing underwater," he let out a chuckle, "it looks like I forgot."

Then, he faced the newly reformed Gravekeeper's and announced with an energy he hasn't felt for so long. "The Gravekeeper's are back!"

To Be Continued.

Now that I have the Gravekeeper's back in power at 100 fold and the Society of Light flickered out; what do I have planned next? Read and Review.

P.S. it will probably be awhile before I update again, just want to finish up my Poke'mon and write a few chapters for Ben 10. But if I get enough reviews I might update sooner.


	21. The rise of the Gravekeeper's

Chapter 21: The rise of the Gravekeeper's

Only a few days have gone by but in that short amount of time with Chief David's leadership the Gravekeeper's became completely organized to the far corners of the globe; but because of the large increase in members and locations, many other Chiefs are stationed in each area.

But focusing on Duel Academy, it seems that everything from the Card Shop to the Patrol was replaced by members of the Gravekeeper's.

Yet as the Gravekeeper's where increasing, Jaden's popularity was in an all time low. Every time he walked through the hallways he would either get the cold shoulder or just completely ignored him. Even Syrus joined the Gravekeeper's in the Curse Division and transferred to the Gravekeeper's Dorm, just to get out of Jaden's dorm.

But the only person that would give him the time of day, Alexis Rhoades, he couldn't approach her. For some reason every time he saw her, his body felt hotter, his heart raced so fast he could barely breathe he couldn't help but run away; wondering what was wrong with him for doing so.

Jaden was asleep during the last period of school, wearing his trademark glasses and snoring; this being the first day of sleep he has gotten since that match against Sword Hunter; this class lecture being just the sleeping pill needed.

But he woke up just as the bell rung. There he stretched his arms and let out a big yawn as he rubbed his eyes. "Is class over, Sy?" he asked then looked over at the seat next to him to see it empty, just to remember his good pal was no longer by his side, "oh yeah," he said to himself in a depressed tone, "I forgot."

"Hello egger young students," Sheppard's voice boomed over the speaker system, "it is time for the second match of the third round. And the duelists picked today will be, Chazz from our own Duel Academy."

"Oh yeah!" Chazz praised himself as usual, "Let's hear it for the Chazz!"

"Chazz it up!" a small group of fans cheered.

"VS," Sheppard added, "Duel City Academy's David Sepulcher!"

Chazz's face went from certain victory to complete and utter shock at the sound of that name. "Go our Chief!" one student yelled out as the rest of the classroom agreed.

"But because some routine maintenance is needed to be done on the platform, the next match won't start till after dinner tonight. So please prepare for a great match."

Sheppard signed off as Jaden looked around him; every seat for five seats in all directions was empty, as if he was a plague to anyone that got near him.

"Hey Jaden," Alexis's caring voice spoke out, causing Jaden to look up at the tall girl standing in front of him, "how have you been doing?"

For some reason, as he looked at Alexis his mouth became dry and his hands became soaked in sweat. Any words he wanted to say to her kept escaping him as his heart almost felt as it was going to explode in his chest.

She looked even more concerned as his face started to turn a shade of red. "Are you feeling alright, Jaden?" she asked, placing her hand to his forehead, "you are feeling a bit warm."

He backed out of his chair so quickly he nearly fell over, if it wasn't for the short wall behind him. His entire body shaking uncontrollably as without saying a word he just ran up the steps and out of the classroom; leaving a worried Obelisk Blue where she stood.

But Sword Hunter was watching this from the other side of the classroom, wiping a few tears away from her eyes with a smile on her face. "Isn't it sweet to see someone with a crush?" she giggled, "and to think, if it wasn't for little young me he would still be completely ignorant of his own feelings."

"And in the process we destroyed what little of a life he had," Bloodlust chuckled.

"Now that's what I call a good days worth of work," Shadow added.

"But something tells me we won't be able to have as much fun for a while," Virus added, typing on the laptop that seemed to be handcuffed to her arm.

Sword Hunter looked at her female friend with an innocent curiosity. "Oh, why not?"

Without looking up from the screen; she pointed across the room, right above them, and at each exit was a Spy, a Watcher or a Guard. "That's why."

"Virus has a point," Shadow concurred, "right now there is too much going on and going against the Gravekeeper's would be suicide."

"So at the moment its best to keep a low key," TNT thought aloud.

Bloodlust stood up. "Or, this is just a challenge for us," he cracked his knuckles, "to try to be more, underhanded."

* * *

Jaden ran into his room and slammed the door, where he rested his back against it until he stopped at the floor. Breathing heavily as he still felt his heart racing, wondering what the heck was going on with his body, never feeling anything like this before. 

"What is going on with me," Jaden thought aloud as he looked at his shaking hands, "why can't I talk to Alexis? Why does my body keep acting like this?" he cursed himself.

"It is because this feeling is completely new to you," he heard the voice of Aquos coming from his deck.

So Jaden reached into his deck protector and pulled out the dolphin Neo-Spacian. "What do you mean new feelings?"

"You have never experienced these emotions before," Aquos replied, "so they are pretty intense inside of you right now. But after you are able to control the new emotion and use inside of you, we will able to save all of existence."

"But Aquos," Jaden replied in a confused tone, "the Society of Light has already been defeated by David and the Gravekeeper's."

Aquos was taken by complete surprise. "Are you sure about this, Jaden?"

Jaden nodded. "I swear, it happened a few days ago. The Society of Light is no more."

Aquos put his hand to his chin. "I don't get it," he thought aloud, "then why do I still sense a disturbance in the universe."

"Well maybe the universe hasn't overcome it yet," Jaden commented, "maybe the effects will disappear in a few days."

Aquos didn't seem to be sure. "I hope you're right Jaden; for the sake of everything that exists I hope you're right."

* * *

David looked over his deck as Edgar was laughing his head off. "No... way," he stated to his roommate, "you're telling me that you planned to take control of the Society of Light since tall, white and insane showed up." 

David only focused on his cards spread out on his bed. "It was simple, as soon as he mentioned that his Society already spread to the far corners of the world I made him make that deal to get rid of his main competition and gaining my resources so I then lost the match on purpose," he then looked through some extra cards, "it was a bonus that I was put as second in command."

He stretched out his arms and rubbed his eyes. "Then from there, I had my gang infiltrate it and break the members out of their spell. Where I would either have them join or return them back to their normal lives."

Edgar was wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes. "Good to see that jerk got what was coming; so how did that part turn out?"

"Well out of the 84 percent that were willing to join, only 76 percent were capable of being members. But I still see that as a great bonus to the Gravekeeper's."

"Well let's see, your gang now rules the world of business and dueling. Just get into politics and you can rule the world," Edgar replied in a relaxed town.

Just then, David's cell phone rung; he answered it, saying yes a few times then ended with. "Thanks Spy 1 I will be there shortly, keep her busy till I arrive."

"Thank you, my Chief," she replied as the phone disconnected.

"I have something to get to," David stated to Edgar as he got up from his bed, "look after my deck, this won't take long."

"Will do, Chief," Edgar replied with a two finger salute just as David left the room.

Edgar then walked over to David's deck then was completely shocked to what he saw. "T-There is only, 45 cards in his deck. How can that be?"

* * *

Alexis and Mindy were heading back to the Obelisk Girl's Dorm from the beach as the sun was just setting on another day. "Ah, wasn't that just the way to spend an evening," Mindy stated, using the towel on her shoulders to dry her moist hair. 

But all Alexis did was exhale in depression. "Yeah... sure."

Mindy looked at her sadden friend. "Come on, Alexis; cheer up. You've been depressed since class ended."

She exhaled again. "Well every time I try to talk or get near Jaden, he just runs off."

"Why would you want to talk to him anyway?" Mindy asked. "He showed his true colors during that duel, he is nothing but a jerk."

"Well, that's what I want to talk about," Alexis replied in a quiet tone, looking down at the grass, "he would never say something like that on his own free will; I want to get the bottom of this."

Mindy shook her head. "Well, if you insist."

But, just as she looked forward, she saw her chief walking towards them. She smiled. "Shoot!" Spy 1 blurted out, "I completely forgot about the Quick-play Trap paper due tomorrow!"

"You mean, Quick-play Spell... right?" Alexis asked.

Mindy gave back a dumbfounded smile. "Dang, I better get to that paper ASAP then, see you at dinner!"

She then ran off as Alexis shook her head, wondering what she is going to do with the friends she has.

"Hello once again, Miss. Rhodes," a familiar voice called out to her, already grinding her teeth to the sound, "I'm glad we can finally meet on more, friendly terms."

She looked across to see David Sepulcher. "Hello David," she said through grinding teeth, "I see you have your gang back."

"Yes, and that is why I wanted to talk to you..."

But he was quickly cut off by her yelling. "I already told you David, I will never become a member of your gang! I bet it was you and your gang that made Jaden say those horrible things!"

David only chuckled. "No, the Gravekeeper's weren't back till after that little match; so I had nothing to do with action, it was all him."

"Well still," Alexis said in defense, "there is nothing you can say that will make me even consider becoming a Chief of this Branch of the Gravekeeper's."

A sadistic grin came on his face. "Oh I doubt that; especially now that my gang spreads out to the far corners of the world. I see that your heart still belongs to that idiot."

She stepped back from that remark as he continued. "Now I don't really care if you are just smitten with him or it is true love, but I also know the only reason you aren't advancing with these feelings is because that your relationship will only last a short time."

"What does that have to do with becoming a Chief?" she asked angrily.

"Well now think about it," David instructed, "because my gang is now growing at an incredible rate all over the world, after you graduate here you can relocate to any area the gang has reached and by then, I bet one will be where ever Jaden lives."

Her eyes went wide from shock to hearing that. "Or if one hasn't reached there you can request that one is set up there. Not to mention if you become a Chief here you can immediately become a Chief there, living comfortably with the one in your heart. Not to mention how you can help him through this ordeal he is going through as we speak."

He actually hit a string in her heart with that speech; the only thing that was stopping her from admitting her feelings to Jaden was the fear of separation. "So, your saying after I graduate from Duel Academy," she asked nervously, "I can live anywhere I want as long as I stay with the Gravekeeper's?"

"Correct, Miss. Rhodes. As long as you stand by the rules of the Gravekeeper's," he then turned back towards the Obelisk Dorm, "by now you have a present from me waiting in your room; I hope it's your size."

* * *

Alexis then ran back into her room, and just like his words there was a Gravekeeper's Chief uniform lying on her bed. 

Picking it up, she saw it was her size and probably fit her perfectly. But on the outfit an envelope was taped to it.

She pulled it off and opened it; seeing inside was a Gravekeeper's Chief card and a note which read, **You have until 10pm tonight to make up your mind, there will be a meeting at the new Gravekeeper's Dorm then, at the once abandoned Obelisk Blue Dorm. Present the card at the door to be allowed in. I hope you make the right decisions, Chief David.**

She looked at the card in one hand and at the outfit in the other, not truly sure of what to do next.

* * *

After dinner it went straight to the tournament match between David and Chazz. So far it has been a fierce match with both doing some pretty good damage. 

At the moment, it is Chazz's turn, having 1200 life points left and his three Ojama's in defense on his side of the field to David who also has 1200 life points, Necrovalley, a Curse, three Ojama Tokens, a face down card in the spell/trap zone, and no cards in his hand.

"One of you Duel City students might have gotten lucky last time, but I am the Chazz!" he drew his card, "now I play Polymerization, fusing my three Ojama Brothers on the field to create the Ojama King!"

The giant monster was summoned to the field with 0 attack points. "But now I play, Ojamuscle, destroying your three Ojamas to give my monster 3000 attack points, but since they were tokens you take 900 direct damage!"

The Chief grinded his teeth after that attack dropped him to 300 life points. "Now, destroy his Curse with Skydive Belly-flop!"

The large king jumped high into the air and landed right onto the Curse, destroying the monster but saving the Chief's remaining life points. "Also, the ability of my King comes in, making three of your monster summoning zones useless!"

David watched as three of his summoning zones on his disk went dim, looking to be put into a really tight spot by this. "I will end my turn, now let's if your Gravekeeper's are capable of beating the Chazz!"

"Go our Chief!" the Gravekeeper's called out repeatedly in the stands, encouraging the defeat of his opponent.

"It looks like you still haven't learned anything from your match from, Edgar," David called out.

"And what lesson would that be?!" Chazz yelled.

David put his fingers on his deck, "To never underestimate a gang leader of Duel City."

He drew his card and grin, seeing that the Gravekeeper's never failed to be by his side in his time of need. "I summon, Gravekeeper's Cannonholder!"

The monster was summoned to the field with only 1400 attack points, but because of Necrovalley it went up to 1900. Chazz could only laugh. "Wow, and I thought you had something there. Even if you had another Gravekeeper to use its effect you would still only do 700 direct damage, it looks like your Gravekeeper's failed you."

David glared with only pure hatred at Chazz with that remark. "Never insult my gang with such slander!" this caused Chazz to step back, "Now, I will show you once and for all the true power of the Gravekeeper's because I activate, Rite of Spirits to bring back Gravekeeper's Curse!"

Chazz was shocked. "Hold on, you have Necrovalley on the field, how can you get into your Graveyard?"

"You dare insult the Gravekeeper's without knowing their true power?!" he said with pure hatred, "because they protect the grave the grave helps them, letting their call reach past the beyond."

Then the Curse was summoned back to the field. "Now that Gravekeeper's Curse is on the field, you take 500 life points!"

Chazz watched as his life points went down to 700, then went into a complete state of fear as he realized what was about to happen next. "Now Gravekeeper's Cannonholder, show this inferior the true power the Gravekeeper's possess!"

Curse then turned into a yellow ball of energy and loaded into the cannon, where it fired right through the Ojama King and right at Chazz's life points, dropping it to 0. "Winner of the second match in the third round, David Sepulcher from Duel City Academy!" Crowler announced.

"All hail our Chief!" the Gravekeeper's cheered as David waved to them.

* * *

The clock just struck 10pm in the Gravekeeper's Dorm, this Dorm being beyond that of the tents they used to use in the past. 

David stared at the empty seat across the table in the meeting room as everyone of the 1's were sitting at the table and the other Gravekeeper's Divisions were on the large screen in front of the room, feeling a bit depressed that such a capable candidate turned down his offer.

"My Chief, we should get started with the meeting," Vassal 1 Bastian stated as the others agreed with him.

The clock struck 10:01pm and he exhaled. "Yes, it would be rude of me to hold this meeting any longer," he then fixed the papers in front of him and said, "well I'm glad you all could make it tonight, I think we should start off this meeting by..."

But before he could add anything else, he heard the door up and a voice quickly following. "I'm sorry I'm late, the Guards at the entrance were a bit defensive."

A smile graced his face as he turned around to see Alexis standing at the entrance, wearing the Chief uniform that fitted her perfectly. "Not at all, Miss. Rhodes; you are right on time," he then moved his hand out to point at the empty seat, "please take your seat and let us start with the meeting."

She bowed. "Yes, my Chief."

Then as she sat down at the table, David said. "Well I'm glad we could get together for this meeting; because the Gravekeeper's are no longer just a Gang. From now on, it's an Organization."

To Be Continued

Now even Alexis has joined the ranks of the Gravekeeper's while Jaden is too nervous to even approach her. Now, what do I have planned for the students of Duel Academy after this? Read and Review.


	22. Fear and Power

Chapter 22: Fear and Power

Alexis dreamed that night; it was such a painful dream. She dreamt of last year, how she searched for her missing older brother, with each passing day her heart sank into more dread and despair, wondering if she would ever see him again.

She remembered before that, how much of a knucklehead he would be, how much she would just blow him off because of his actions. But now he was gone and all she could do was leave a rose by the old Obelisk Blue Dorm, only to realize now how much he truly meant to her.

Then those painful emotions ensnared her once again when Jaden disappeared, hating it so much because there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Quickly the young girl woke up, breathing heavily from that dreadful nightmare.

She looked over at her alarm clock; it was only 3am. Slowly, she regained her breath and looked over at her Gravekeeper's Chief uniform hanging across the room. She hated the fear of separation so much; she was willing to do anything so to never feel that pain again, even to join the ranks of the Gravekeeper's.

* * *

But even though she was the Chief of the Gravekeeper's, she still had to attend her classes as she was sitting next to Chief David.

For the few days she has been Chief everything has been running smoothly, but she has needed help from David ever now and again; running this gang... Organization wasn't as easy as David made it look. There are mountains of paperwork, round the clock orders to the Gravekeeper's, and not to mention making sure that both the clients and the Gravekeeper members were happy.

But don't get the position wrong, it still came with its own benefits. Because just like she said as soon as she got the position she put a selected few Curse agents into researching what happened during the duel between Jaden and Sword Hunter.

But speaking of Jaden, when ever she got some free time she would try to talk with Jaden, yet every time she was able to find him he would just panic and run off. She was hoping with at least clearing his name she would be able to chat with him.

But the sound of the bell snapped her out of her daze as she heard David's voice quickly follow. "Well, that was a refreshing day of class; wouldn't you say so, Miss. Rhodes?"

She watched as he organized his paperwork and filed him into his briefcase. "Yeah, it has," she replied, lacking any energy in her words.

"I'm guessing you are tired from the few days as being the new Chief," he commented, "am I right?"

She rubbed her eyes with her index finger and thumb. "You could say that."

He chuckled a bit. "Wait until I head back to Duel City, but you will get use to it."

Just then, his cell phone rang. "Yes... I got it... she will be happy to hear... thank you Curse 36 for the speedy work on this."

"Curse 36, you mean Syrus?" Alexis asked.

He hung up the phone and nodded. "Yes, and he is pleased to inform that you were right; Jaden didn't say those things of his own freewill."

It seemed like a newfound energy filled the new Chief of Duel Academy as a look of shock graced her face. "Wait, you've been keeping tabs on my actions?"

He nodded once again. "Let's just say with how quickly the Organization is growing I'm making sure none of the new Chiefs abuse their power. It's nothing against you Miss. Rhodes. But also they discovered that Jaden never said any of that and already have the culprits ready for you to talk to."

She quickly stood up from her desk. "Well, we have no time to waste."

* * *

She walked into the Watcher's division of the Gravekeeper's Dorm and was led into the Holding Cells as she wasn't shocked to see who was there. "How did I guess it was your group?"

Bloodlust chuckled. "You know, you could have just chatted with us without sending your police after us," he stated in a smug tone.

She glared at them. "Do you know how many violations to the school rules you have done?"

But Sword Hunter put on her innocent mask. "But all we wanted to do was have Jaden realize the feelings of others."

"You hacked into the schools computers, falsified information, and completely ruined Jaden's life at this school!" Chief Alexis yelled.

Sword Hunter couldn't help but giggle while twisting a few strands of her long hair around her finger. "That was a... side-effect."

Alexis crumpled the paperwork in her hands as she said through grinded teeth. "From what I have on your group I can have you kicked out of the rest of the tournament, expelled from this school and probably expelled from your own school."

"That might not be necessary, Miss. Rhodes," Chief David replied, walking into the room.

"What do you mean, my Chief?" Alexis asked, "For their crimes they should be punished."

But a darker personality seemed to take over David as he grinned. "With their talents, they could be useful members for the Gravekeeper's Organization."

She was shocked to hearing this. "My Chief, you can't be serious."

Slowly, he turned his head to face the Queen of Duel Academy, the glare in his eyes sent a shiver down her spine. "I am always serious about these kinds of decisions; and never question your Chief like that again."

His glare became darker. "Do it again, and I will strip you of your position; making sure that you will never be around you know who."

That fear again came into her mind; she never wanted to be separated from the ones she cared about again. Without another word, she only nodded to his decision.

He grinned as he turned his attention back to the prisoners. "What do you say, would you want a position as a member of the Gravekeeper's Organization or expelled?"

Bloodlust chuckled again. "Like we have a choice, I'm in."

Sword Hunter giggled. "Sounds like fun."

"Sign me up," TNT added.

Shadow rubbed his chin. "Is there a psychology division?"

"I will join under one condition," Virus replied in her monotone voice with her attention focused on her laptop.

David grinned. "I'll see what I can do, but you know that you will all be put under a magnifying glass for an indefinite period of time."

Bloodlust nodded. "Obviously."

"Then welcome, to the Gravekeeper's Organization," he replied in a sadistic tone.

* * *

The students were watching the third round of the third match with Bloodlust VS Fredi of Ad Tech Duel Academy.

Fredi's life points are at 2050 with EARTH Agent: Blackbelt and Material in defense mode with the EARTH Organization field card in play as Bloodlust has 3400 life points and Lord on the field. It looks like finally Bloodlust will beat Fredi from their usual School Duels.

"Time to draw your card and face your defeat, Fredi," Bloodlust chuckled as he saw no way his opponent could win.

Fredi drew his card. "It looks like your victory is going to have to be postponed, Bloodlust."

"I would love to see you destroy my most powerful monster; since this is the first time you have gone up against it."

"Then I sacrifice Agent Blackbelt and Material to summon, EARTH Agent Doubleplay to the field," he announced, Tributing the two humanoid monsters to summon a humanoid monster made of Diamonds. But it didn't seem like a monster worth two sacs as it had 0 attack and defense points. "Now you know what happens when this monster is summoned to the field with The EARTH Organization field card on the field. It gains the attack and defense of a monster on the field, and I choose your Lord."

Even though his size didn't change, Doubleplay's attack and defense went up to 4000. "But I'm not done, because he has a second ability. By taking 2000 life points I get to double his attack and defense points until the end of the battle phase."

"This can't be!" Bloodlust announced as he watched Fredi's life points drop to 50 and Doubleplay's attack and defense raised to 8000. "Now Doubleplay, attack his Lord with Copy Strike!"

Doubleplay's arm changed into Lord's arm as he slammed it over the monster. Even though it didn't destroy Lord, it reduced Bloodlust's life points to 0. "The winner is," Crowler announced, "Fredi Heat of Ad Tech Duel Academy!"

* * *

It was already past twelve as Alexis shuffled her bare feet across the carpet to her bed, so tired she didn't even change her clothes as she collapsed on her bed. Her feet hung over the side as she couldn't believe how exhausted she was while David was still up and running; wondering how he can be the top of his school and still run this Organization.

"This better get easier," Alexis groaned from a lack of energy, her body aching all over.

But she looked at a picture resting on her nightstand; her and her friends smiling as she rested her arms on top of a sitting Jaden. She knew very soon, all of her efforts would be worth it.

"If only I could chat with him; I wonder why he keeps running off every time I get near him," she then yawned, "oh well," she rubbed her tired eyes, "I'll deal with that tomorrow."

And with that, she fell asleep to some well deserved rest.

To Be Continued

Sorry it took so long, but soon the true darkness this fanfic holds will come. Read and Review.


	23. Family Duel

A bit of a detour from the main plot, will get back on in the next chapter

Chapter 23: Family Duel

"I will join under one condition," Virus replied in her monotone voice with her attention focused on her laptop.

"I believe I know what you want, Miss. Sebastian." Chief David stated with a grin growing across his face, "You want to duel someone in particular from Klein Duel Academy, don't you?"

Her typing ceased as she looked away from her laptop. "You can, make that happen?"

David nodded. "By tomorrow, you will have your match."

She smiled. "Then I'm in."

* * *

Syrus pleaded to his old friend Jaden outside in front of the school. "Jaden, I'm so sorry for believing you could say those horrible things." 

Jaden waved his hands in front of him. "It's alright, Sy. You don't need to apologize for the fiftieth time."

Syrus hugged his friend tightly with streams of tears running down his face. "But I just can't see how someone can forgive a guy that would abandon his friend."

But Syrus didn't realize how tightly he was hugging Jaden that he was already blue in the face. "Syrus, you might want to let go before you suffocate him," Bastian stated.

Syrus opened his eyes just as Jaden was turning purple and quickly let go. "Oh I'm so sorry, Jaden," he apologized again.

Jaden breathed in a few times to inflate his lungs. "I'm alright... Sy."

Bastian patted Jaden on the back. "Well, not to sound like a broken record, but we are all sorry for how we treated you," he looked over at Chazz, "right?"

"Hey, I've always treated him like a slacker!" Chazz replied.

"I'm just glad we're all friends again," Jaden cheered.

"Who says we are friends!?" Chazz yelled.

"Well, it looks like everything is back to normal," Bastian added as the group chuckled at Chazz's expense.

But then something caught the energetic hero's eye as he looked at one of the windows; seeing an Obelisk Blue student looking out at the ocean while sitting in a wheelchair. "Hey, who is that?"

They all looked at the kid Jaden was talking about. "Oh, that is Will Sebastian," Bastian pointed out, "he is one of the transfer students from Klein Duel Academy"

"Huh, then why haven't I've ever seen him around before?" Syrus asked.

"The guy is supposed to be a prodigy," Bastian replied, "from what I heard, he heads right back to his room to do some projects for some high level businesses right after class."

But just then, a teenage girl in an Obelisk Blue uniform ran up to him with a can of soda. "And who is that," Syrus asked in a love-struck state.

"That is Nicole Peeacee, another student from Klein Duel Academy but it is also rumored that she is his assistant," Bastian added.

The guys looked at their bookworm friend. "You seem to know a lot about Will," Jaden pointed out, causing Bastian to cough.

He then scratched his cheek with his index finger while sounding a bit suspicious. "Well it's not like I've followed his career within Advance Nano-machinery to the break-through of medical robotics, read his books or see him as my idol right next to Dr. Albert Zweinstein. Where did you get an idea like that?"

He started to laugh nervously until Chazz asked with a grin on his face. "Did you know of his new book on robotic limbs being the future of human advancement?"

Instantly Bastian's voice flipped from nervous to excitement. "Oh yes I have, the mathematics combined with the theories were flawless," but just then he noticed his friends laughing at his expense, "oh very funny guys."

Then they watched as Will's assistant wheeled him away. "Well Jaden," Syrus asked, "Who do you think you will duel next in the tournament?"

Jaden put some thought into that. "Well, we will just have to wait and find out," he replied full of energy.

"Hey there guys," they heard a female voice call out to them, causing them to look over and see Alexis walking towards them, "how've you been?"

But at that instant Jaden could feel his heart pounding harder, his mouth became dry and his hands drenched in sweat; his body wondering if he should stay or run.

But just as she approached the group Jaden dashed off in the other direction; not even giving a reason as he rushed back to his dorm, causing the Queen of Duel Academy to be sad. "So, Jaden is back to his old self?" she asked in a depress tone.

The three nodded. "Yeah, except for running off for no reason," Syrus replied.

She sighed. "Well, I'm glad he is alright, but you should have kept him here Guard 3."

Chazz stood up straight to his Chief. "I'm sorry my Chief, who would have guessed the Slacker could run so fast?"

She sighed again. "Well next time I want to talk with him alone to get to the bottom of this."

"I will have the Spy Division work on something about that, my Chief," Bastian replied.

* * *

Will Sebastian typed at his computer screen where what was the only light in the room, making a 3D model of what looked to be an eye from the mathematic formulas he was entering. 

Just then, Peeacee walked in with a tray of food from the dinning room. "Sorry if I'm a bit late," she said, "the line was longer than usual."

She looked around the room. "You know it's bad for your eyes if you don't keep the room well lit."

She turned on the light, which in-turned caused him to blink a few times and rub his eyes. "I didn't realize they were off."

She couldn't help but giggle. "What would you do without me," she paused for a second, "don't answer that," she then set the tray next to his desk, "now take a break and eat something."

"Not yet," he replied, typing rows after rows of information, "I'm almost finished with this set."

A worried look came over her face. "Will," an equally worried tone lingered in her words, "how much sleep have you been getting."

His typing slowed down. "Enough," he replied, not sounding confident from his statement.

"I am with you to make sure you don't over exert yourself," Peeacee replied in a concern tone, "I even sleep in the same room as you to make sure your health isn't over looked. I hear you typing in the middle of the night."

He stopped typing. "S-Sorry... if I woke you."

She shook her head. "It's not that, we've been here since the start of the school year and you haven't dueled once. You should take a break and have some fun."

He continued to type the information. "I'll duel tomorrow, I promise," he replied.

She relaxed on her bed; she knew that he was stronger than he looked despite his frail form. But she couldn't help but worry about him from the bottom of her heart, wishing he didn't focus all of his attention around his work and would relax ever now and again; it took all of her negotiating ability just to have him watch the sunset with her.

She exhaled, but should she wish for something like that; because if it wasn't for his work she doubted she would be alive today.

But just then, she heard a knock on the door. She walked up to it to see a note was slipped under. "Will, you got a letter."

"Can you read it for me, I'm a bit busy at the moment," he called out.

"Sure," she nodded as she opened the envelope and scanned the lines, "someone wants to challenge you to a duel tonight," she called out in a cheery tone as she walked up to the paraplegic, "this is just the thing you need."

"Does it say who it's from?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Nope, all it says is from JS."

At that moment, his typing ceased. "Did you say, JS?" he asked in a dark tone, a tone she has never heard him speak before.

"Yeah," she replied nervously.

He rubbed his eyes. "What's the time?"

* * *

It was nearly eight o'clock as Peeacee wheeled him up to the Obelisk Blue Duel Arena, where he was already equipped with a Duel Disk on his left arm. "Well, it's almost time," Peeacee stated. 

But Will didn't say anything; in fact he hadn't said anything since he got that letter, only a dark glare in his eyes that only intensified as the challenger slowly walked up onto the platform in a Gravekeeper's Curse uniform. "It has been awhile, hasn't it?" Virus asked.

His right hand tightened into a fist. "Not long enough it seems," he replied in a hate-filled tone.

"Will, who is she?" Peeacee asked.

"He hasn't told you?" Virus stated in a depressed tone, "my name is Virus, but my real name is Jenny Sebastian, his older sister."

Peeacee was shocked to hear this; she never knew that he had any siblings before. This just made her now realize that even though she was with him nearly twenty-four hours a day, she really didn't know much about him.

"I see after all these years you still haven't forgiven me," Virus replied in a sad tone, looking away, "I'm depressed to hear that."

"Are we going to duel or what?" he asked.

She inserted her deck. "We'll duel."

* * *

Within the bare stands, Virus's schoolmates sat in the seats. "Well, a brother against sister, this should be interesting," Bloodlust smirked. 

"The mental states of fighting that of your own kin, this will definitely be a match worth watching," Shadow agreed.

"Do your best, Virus!" Sword Hunter cheered her lungs out for her friend.

* * *

"Let's duel!" the two called out, drawing their five cards with 4000 life points. 

"I will let you draw first, dear brother," Virus said.

"Fine," he replied, drawing his first card and looking at his hand, "For the first move, I play one card face down and summon Infinity Suit in defense mode," he announced as a cybernetic helmet with chest-plate was summoned to the field with 500 defense points. "I end my turn."

"I draw," Virus stated, drawing her card, "I will summon Giant Germ in attack mode," she announced as a giant orb floated in front of her, "Now I will have it attack your Infinity Suit."

The germ floated over and absorbed the armor, digesting it till it rusted and corroded. "I will end my turn."

"I draw," Will said, pulling out his card, "now during my standby phase, Infinity Suit is summoned back to the field in face up attack mode," he stated as the armor returned in attack mode with 500 attack points, "now I summon another monster, Infinity Right Arm."

A robotic right arm was summoned to the field with 500 attack points. "But don't think that's all it does, because if there is another piece of Infinity on the field they gain 1000 attack points."

Their attacks rose to 1500. "Now right arm, attack her Giant Germ with Mach Punch!"

Then with a punch faster than the blink of an eye, it burst the germ and sent her life points down to 3500. "Now my Giant Germ's ability activates, damaging you 500."

His life points went down to 3500 as well as she continued. "Now I can also take another Giant Germ from my deck and summon it to the field."

Another one was summon to the field in attack mode as he chained to that effect. "I activate, Anti-Virus Nano-Tech," he announced as a Continuous trap card, which had his life points covered in Nano-machines, was revealed, "this card makes it so at the end turn phase; I gain back all effect damage that was done to me."

"I see you are still thinking ahead, that's good," Virus stated.

"Infinity Suit will now attack your new Giant Germ."

The monster was destroyed as their life points dropped to 3000 and another one was summoned to the field. "I will end my turn with a face down card."

Just at his end phase, Will's life points went back up to 4000. "Even in dueling you focus on helping, I'm glad to see you haven't changed much over the years."

"Just draw your card," he shot back.

"Well then, if you won't talk to me," she looked over at Peeacee, "your name is Nicole Peeacee, right?"

"Y-yeah, that's right," she answered nervously.

Her emotionless eyes then turned dark, scaring the young assistant. "So, you are a living corpse."

Peeacee's eyes went wide with fear from that statement. "Bite your tongue!" Will yelled. "You have no right to call her that!"

"Well that is what she is, right?" she asked, "I bet over ninety percent of her body is that of machines and Nano-technology," she accused, "without those machines she is as good as dead, so she is a living corpse."

Peeacee looked down at her hands; the left one rubbed the top of the right one. She hated to admit but it was true, if it wasn't for this mechanical body she would be as good as dead since her old body was damage far beyond repair.

"Leave her out of this and just go already," he snapped back.

She drew her card. "If you insist, dear brother."

She looked at her cards. "I summon, Tribe Infecting Virus to the field in attack mode," she announced as the strange yellow particles formed in the monster zone, "now I activate the effect of my monster, by discarding one card from my hand," she sent Lightning Vortex into the graveyard, "I declare one type and it destroys all the face up monsters on the field with that type, and I declare Machine as the type so all machines are now infected."

The yellow particles infected all of Will's monsters and destroyed them. "I activate my Trap card," Will announced, revealing a trap card of the monster field covered in Nano-machines, "Recover-Injuries Nano-Tech, so now if any of my monsters are destroyed by an effect, they are returned to the field by the end phase, costing me 500 life points per turn to keep it on the field," he said as his life points dropped to 3500.

"But for now, you are wide open," Virus pointed out, "Now Tribe Infecting Virus, attack his life points directly with Infernal Plague!"

The particles surrounded Will, taking his life points down to 1900. "Now Giant Germ, attack him."

The germ covered Will, which caused him to go down to 900. "I will end my turn."

"Now my Anti-Virus Nano-Machine activates, regaining the 500 life points used by the effect of Recover-Injuries Nano-tech while Recover-Injuries Nano-tech kicks in, returning my monsters back to the field," said as his life points rose back up to 1400 and his monsters were summoned back to the field in attack mode.

He drew his card. "Now I can't risk the cost of my Recover-Injuries Nano-tech, so it is destroyed," his trap card was destroyed as he then played the spell card he just drew. "Now I activate, Rejuvenation Nano-Tech," he placed the Quick-Play spell card which showed a picture of Nano-machines covering the deck, "Now for this turn only, any card that is sent from my hand, deck or field to the graveyard by an effect, at the end phase those cards are returned to my deck and reshuffled, costing me only 1000 life points."

His life points went down to 400 as he then played another spell card. "Now I play, Armor Draw, this card let's me draw 10 cards off the top of my deck, if they have Infinity in their name they are special summoned to the field in attack mode and the rest are sent to the graveyard."

He drew from his deck ten cards and looked at them. "I only drew 3 Infinity cards," he said, "Infinity Left Arm, Right Leg, and Left Leg to the field. The rest go to the graveyard."

The cards were special summoned to the field with only 500 attack each. "But that's not all, because there is two Infinity cards they gain 1000, three gain an extra 500, four an extra 300 and five an extra 200 making them all a grain total of 2500 attack points."

They all rose to 2500 attack. "But that's not all, because I combine them all into Infinity, the Mach Warrior!"

The robotic armor formed into one black armor with a red infinity symbol on its chest and 3000 attack points. "Now, attack her Tribe Infecting Virus with Mach Assault!"

Before anyone could blink, the warrior disappeared from his side of the field and attacked the creature from every direction; exploding it and dropping her life points down to 1400. "Now, one of Infinity's effect activates, you take 1000 extra damage."

Her life points dropped down to 400. "And now I end my turn, which now activates my spell and trap, letting me recover 1000 life points and the cards discarded by the effect," his life points rose back up to 1400 while he shuffled the cards back into his deck.

"You always did like that monster," she said in a delighted tone, but quickly became depressed, "is it because," she looked away, "of what I did to you?"

The dark glare he has kept on his face since the start of the duel turned into that of pain, looking down at his legs. He remembered the car accident where his sister was driving; she walked away without a scratch as he lost all use of his legs. "No, it's because you gave me this card."

She looked up to see him looking down at his monster. "You gave it to me as a present towards wining that Science Fair," his hand tightened into a fist, "but..."

He looked up at her. "But I can never forgive you for what you did afterwards, you never even came to visit me in the hospital and as soon as I left I heard you accepted a transfer to Vlad Duel Academy," he slammed his fist on his arm rest, "I mean, why didn't you at least come to say hi?"

She looked away. "It's... complicated."

"Then go already," he yelled.

She drew her card. "Now another effect of Infinity activates; because he moves so fast it takes some time for the wind to catch up, and with such speed that wind can be very destructive."

All of a sudden a strong gust of wind hit the field, slicing up Virus's Giant Germ. "And since it was destroyed by an effect, I take no damage."

She looked at the card in her hand. "Well dear brother, I'm glad we could at least chat once again, but I'm sorry that I will have to end this duel," she revealed the card in her hand to be Electric Virus, "because as soon as I discard this card from my and to the graveyard his effect activates, hacking into a machine on your side of the field and letting me control it until the end of my turn."

She discarded Electric Virus to the graveyard as sparks started to surround Infinity, causing him to flash onto Virus's side. "Now Infinity, end this Duel."

But for some reason, Infinity didn't respond to her command. "Infinity, attack him!"

Will started to chuckle. "You forgot about Infinity's third effect; if he is controlled by the opponent, during the battle phase it attacks your life points directly."

She looked shocked as Infinity turned towards her. "Now, finish this duel Infinity."

Then with one punch, her life points dropped down to 0 and the holograms disappeared. She smiled. "Well, I'm glad to see your dueling skills haven't slipped over the years."

She then turned her back and said. "Peeacee, I'm sorry for insulting you earlier and I'm glad to see that you are taking care of my brother so well. Make sure he gets away from the computer screen every now and again; don't want his eyes to go bad as well."

Peeacee nodded. "T-Thanks."

* * *

Bloodlust chuckled. "Virus could never face a problem directly." 

"Well, this does explain some things about her," Shadow added.

"Too bad she didn't win though," TNT commented.

But Sword Hunter had on a sad mask with tears flooding down her cheeks. "Noooo, she should have won; it's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair," Bloodlust commented, "you of all people should know that."

Her sad mask changed to that of concern. "Yeah... I do."

* * *

Alexis smiled. "Well that was a good match," she said to Bastian, "it's too bad David couldn't make it." 

"Well the Organization is still growing and he is single-handedly trying to make sure everything is in working order, being the Head Chief and all."

She nodded. "I know, but he did set this match up himself for Virus."

"Well, there is still a lot for us to do," Bastian replied as he stood up, "can't let our Chief do all of the work."

She stood up as well. "Your right, there is still a lot of work needed to be done if the Gravekeeper's Organization will flourish."

* * *

But as Chief David did his paperwork, he looked at his right hand and flexed it. It still tingled, ever since he patted Sartorius goodbye; he wondered, was this something he should worry about. 

To Be Continued

I know, a bit of a long detour, but the next match is going to be a good one. Read and Review.


	24. Jaden VS Reality

Chapter 24: Jaden VS Reality

Alexis watched as the sky poured onto their school grounds from her window, observing the small amount of students in the quad running as quickly as possible to their dorms. She breathed deep and sighed, seeing this weather as how her heart felt at that moment.

She has had even more progress with the past few days; the expansion of the Gravekeeper's Dorm has finally finished, because of the many students willing to join, and now towers over the Obelisk Blue Dorm, her room being at the highest for the best view of the island.

But it seemed to her that even after clearing his name Jaden would still avoid her the best he could. She knew she could easily use her newfound power to corner him but she wanted to take care of this matter herself.

Her train of thought was interrupted by three knocks on the door. Quickly she brushed off her uniform and wiped her eyes. "Come in."

To her surprise, Chief David walked into her room. "I hope I'm not intruding, Miss. Rhodes."

She shook her head quickly. "No my Chief, not at all; but why are you here?"

He held out a few papers. "Well an Assailant was coming this way with some paperwork for you to sign," he then walked up to her and handed over the papers, "but I also wanted to point out that you seem to be a bit depressed lately and since I know you don't have a good relationship with our Psychologist I came instead.'

What Shadow did flashed into her mind and shrugged it off. "Well, yeah," she placed the paperwork on her desk as David sat in a chair. "My Chief," she whispered, "can I ask you a personal question?"

His poker face never shifted, that face combined with his unbendable will is probably how he has been able to be the success he is today. "Sure," he answered in an impassive tone.

She sat in her big chair and rested her head on the palm of her hand. "Have you ever had strong feelings for someone, but you can't ever get close to the person to tell them."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry to say I haven't had that problem before, Miss. Rhodes. Back in Duel City I was focused more on work than personal relationships. Besides, I don't think anyone has seen me as anything else than the Chief."

She exhaled again. "Well, thanks for listening anyway; I have some paperwork to fill out."

"I'm sorry I couldn't have been of more help," he stood up, "but I also have some work to finish up as well."

"You mean the contracts towards the electronics company?" she asked.

He opened the door, but turned to face her. "Nope, my paper on Dueling Physics is due tomorrow," he grinned, "I'm still a student here after all."

* * *

Edgar watched the sunrise with his flower Jasmine, the sun looking especially beautiful after that rainstorm had past, adding a giant rainbow in the sky.

She rested her head on his shoulder with her arms wrapped around his; she knew she wouldn't be able to enjoy moment like this with him for long so she was making the most of it for the time being.

But something was different about this morning; unlike her boyfriend's usual girl chasing energetic self, he was depressed and exhaling quiet often. "Edgar?"

His attention looked over at his beautiful flower, his soft eyes looking into hers. "Yes, Jasmine?"

"You haven't seemed like yourself lately," she looked away from his eyes, they always made her mind divert to something else, "even though I do enjoy you not eyeing every girl that walks by, you just don't seem like yourself lately. Did I do something wrong?" she asked in a softer tone, bordering on the brink of tears.

He quickly waved his hands in front of him. "No, not at all!" he nearly shouted from the shock that she would even think of such a thing, "It's just, with the Gravekeeper's booming, I rarely have time to hang out with my old friend anymore. No more insults towards my laidback attitude, somehow disrespecting my gang with my lecherous personality, or me trying to drag him to the beach to get business off his mind."

"Did you ever get his mind off of business?" Jasmine asked.

Edgar shook his head. "Nope, as soon as I thought I could get him to relax, he already made business deals to the local shops on the beach."

She couldn't help but giggle from that story. "He does sound hopeless when it comes to relaxing."

"They said I was hopeless when it came to focusing," his tone became depressed, remembering how low his grades where in the past," I don't think I would have past the first year of Pre-Duel School if it wasn't for him tutoring me after school," he half-heartily chuckled, "but now it looks like I'll never get the chance to get him to relax. I know he just needs to get himself a girlfriend."

She giggled again, rewrapping her arms around his. "Well, don't worry," she squeezed his arm tighter, "I am still your girlfriend."

* * *

Jaden tilt the back of his chair on two legs as Crowler's lecher went on, usually he would just ignore the never ending speech and focus on his next duel; but this time was different, he couldn't get his mind off of Alexis Rhodes. Up until a while ago he never thought of her more than anything than a good friend, but now he didn't know what to think of her.

Was she just a friend to him, was she even more than that, did he really have feelings for her, does she have feelings for him? Those were only a few of the thousands of questions that warped through his mind. His mind and heart were both aching even more with ever second that past as those questions flooded his thoughts. But if he told this to Alexis, would she accept his feelings, would she let him down, or just laugh at his face and call him and idiot like when he asked what a fiancée was; which reminds him, he still needs to look that up.

"Hey Jay!" Syrus yelled at the top of his lungs, causing Jaden to loose his balance and fall off the chair.

He rubbed his sore behind. "Ouch, Sy, why did you yell?"

"The bell rang five minutes ago, didn't you hear it?" Syrus asked his once energetic friend in a concern tone.

Jaden was a bit shocked, looking around the room to see all the students already left; he was so deep in-thought he didn't even hear the ending bell. "Sorry Sy," he rubbed the back of his head and put on a mask with a smile, "guess I was caught up in my daydream duel."

"Well then did you hear the final match for the 3rd Round?"

He tried his best to chuckle. "Guess not, who is it?"

"It's you VS Reality, it starts in ten minutes!"

He ran out towards the exit. "Well come on, Syrus; we don't want to be late for that."

Syrus shook his head with a smile. "Well, he sounds like he is back to normal."

(Authors note: in the Japanese version she called him an idiot for not knowing what fiancée meant)

* * *

"Welcome to the final match of the Third Round," Crowler's voice boomed over the speaker system, echoing throughout the stadium. "And what a way to end this round then with a Duel between these two duelists: on my left, all the way from the Underwater Duel Academy, Reality!"

He walked out onto the platform, waving to the cheering crowd. "And on my right, from our great academy," his enthusiasm died down as he mentioned the name, "Jaden Yuki."

Alexis was glad to hear the school was back on his side, cheering him on to win. "I see your feeling better, Miss. Rhodes."

She looked over to see the Head Chief sit down beside her and nodded. "Yes, my Chief; I'm glad to see Jaden is once again accepted by this Academy, I'm expecting that this will be a great duel."

A slight grin was clearly shown on his face as he looked out at the duelists; watching them shuffling each other's decks. "I see you really do care for that idiot after all."

A slight blush she wished she could hide formed on her face. "But I have one word of advice for you," David added in a darker tone, "never mix your personal emotions with work, nothing good can ever come of it."

She didn't know why, but she felt her heart start to snap. So quickly she swallowed the pain, put on a serious expression and nodded. "I understand, my Chief."

But just then, Bastian walked up to David and whispered in his ear. He nodded twice and stood back up. "I'm sorry I can't stay, Miss. Rhodes; something just came up. Please enjoy the duel."

She watched as he walked out of the stadium with Vassal 1 then looked over at Jaden; why did she always have to feel pain in her heart when it came to Jaden. Was this feeling of hers really worth having, especially when only this suffering came from it?

* * *

"Let's duel!" they called out, starting their life points at 4000 as they drew their five cards.

"Hey dude," Reality called out to his competition, "just curious, do you know why I call myself, Reality?"

Jaden put his free hand to his chin, giving some thought to the question till he blurted out. "It sounds cool?"

Reality's laughter sounded just like Jaden's. "Yeah, that's half of it. You go first!"

Jaden rubbed the back of his head with a smile. "Hey, thanks."

Reality also rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "No problem dude."

* * *

But within the stands, Chazz slapped his forehead. "Oh no, another Jaden."

While with the Underwater Duel Academy students, Backfire slapped his forehead. "Oh no, another Reality."

"Come on Reality!" Twister shouted, "It's all up to you to win this School Duel!"

Reality could only smile. "Yeah, no pressure at all."

Jaden drew his sixth. "How about we just have as much fun as possible, Reality?"

Reality nodded. "Then bring it."

Jaden looked at the cards in his hand. "I will start off the duel with Elemental Hero Clayman in defense mode and call it a turn," he announced as with that, summon the giant warrior in defense mode.

"Cool, E-Hero's!" Reality cheered, drawing his sixth card, "now this will be fun."

He looked at his hand and grinned. "Well, I will start off with the Spell Card, Frontline Base. This spell card allows me to special summon a 4 star Union Monster once per turn," he announced as he placed the spell card on the field, "and now I play the Trump Card of my Deck, the all powerful Dark Blade!"

There, he summoned the normal Dark Warrior monster with 1800 attack points; its armor as black as twelve moonless nights with a large blade in each hand. "But now I use the ability of my Frontline Base, allowing me to summon Pitch-Dark Dragon."

The small black dragon was summoned right next to Dark Blade. "Now I will show you the true power of a Union Monster, as I turn Pitch-Dark Dragon into a spell card and equip it to Dark Blade."

There, Dark Blade jumped on the back of Pitch-Dark Dragon, riding him like in that of the Frontline Base picture. "Cool, it's just like Fusion," Jaden pointed out.

Reality chuckled, "Yeah, something like that; but because he is equipped to Dark Blade, he gains 400 extra attack points," he announced as Dark Blade's attack went up to 2200. "Now, attack his Clayman with Charge Strike!"

The audience watched as Dark Blade flew high into the air and came down on Clayman, using his two mighty swords to slash right through the middle. "Oh, and when Dark Blade is riding Pitch-Dark Dragon, he gets a Trample effect."

Jaden watched as his Clayman crumbled on top of him, dropping him down to 3800 life points. _Strange, _Jaden thought as he brushed off the debris, _I felt that, but this is just a hologram; isn't it?_

"With that I will place one card on the field and end my turn," Reality stated, "but just curious, have you figured out the other half of my name by now?"

Jaden was a bit shocked when he mentioned that, with just then his furry flying friend appeared by his side. "Hey, you have a Duel Spirit too, sweet."

Jaden was a bit shocked. "You can see him?"

Reality nodded. "Yup, such a cute one too; can you see mine? Give you a hint, its right in front of you."

Jaden looked around, not truly sure what he was looking for since he didn't see anything transparent. But then his eyes looked at his Dark Blade. "Is it your, Dark Blade?"

Reality nodded. "Yup, and how he is there is my special power; I'm able to make them into psychical form. I haven't even turned on my duel disk."

"Dude, that is sweet," Jaden blurted out.

"Thanks man; here, let's get a better view of your Spirit," Reality replied, focusing on the Winged Kuriboh.

Then before Jaden's eyes, his Duel Spirit appeared before him in a physical form. "Oh this is so cool," he held the fluff ball, "your so soft too."

"Now come on, it's your turn," Reality stated.

Jaden nodded. "Don't think I'm going to go easy on you because you did that favor for me."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Reality grinned.

He drew his card and looked at his hand. "I start off by playing E-Emergency Call, getting Elemental Hero Neos to my hand from my deck," he announced, placing the E card in his graveyard and taking out Neos from his deck. "Now I play the spell card, Fake Hero, special summoning Elemental Hero Neos to the field."

The Hero from space was summoned to the field. "I also play, Neo-Spacian Flare Scarab. Now I will show you something like your Union, because I use, Contact Fusion, summoning Elemental Hero Flare Neos!"

Reality let out a long one noted whistled; being in awe of this ability. "Not bad, I'm just so curious to see what it can do."

"Well this Neo-Spacian has a special ability, gaining 400 extra attack points for each spell and trap on the field. And since your Union monster is counted as a spell card, combined with your face down and Frontline Base, his attack goes up to 3700. "Now, attack his Dark Blade!"

Elemental Hero Flare Neos's body was engulfed in flames as he charged right at Reality's monster. Making contact with a big explosion, dropping Reality's life points to 2500. "How was that?" Jaden asked as his monster returned to his side.

Reality replied with a large grin on his face. "That was so cool, but you shouldn't underestimate the ability of my Union cards."

Jaden was confused. "What do you mean?"

When the smoke cleared, Jaden was now shocked to see that his Dark Blade was still on the field. "Because when a monster equipped with a Union Monster is targeted to be destroyed, the Union Monster is destroyed in its place."

Jaden grinned. "Not bad, can't wait to see what else Union Monsters are capable of. Now I placed two cards on the field and end my turn."

But as soon as he ended his turn, his Neo-Spacian returned to his fusion deck. "Well, that's kind of bad for your deck, your monster's retreating on you like that," Reality said as he drew his card, "now I activate my Trap Card, Roll Out! This card allows me to get back a Union Material Monster and equip it to the designated Monster on the field, so I bring back Pitch-Dark Dragon and equip it to Dark Blade once again."

On the field, Dark Blade was riding the dragon, until Reality added. "Now I use Pitch-Dark Dragon's effect, becoming a monster once again," Dark Blade got off the Dragon as it now occupied a Monster Zone, "but now I sacrifice it for, Kiryu!"

The small dragon was then quickly replaced by a larger red dragon, bearing 2000 attack points. "Now for his special ability, equipping to Dark Blade to increase his attack and defense points by 900."

Dark Blade rose up to 2700. "Now, attack his life points directly!"

"I activate a trap card!" Jaden announced, "A Hero Emerges, now you pick a card in my hand and if it's a monster it's summoned to the field. And since there is one card in my hand you have no choice, so I summon Elemental Hero Bubbleman in attack mode!"

Then the humanoid monster appeared on the field with 800 attack points. "Now that he is summoned to the field, I get to draw two cards."

"Well, I still continue with the attack!" Reality called out.

"That triggers my other trap, Hero Barrier; preventing one attack on an Elemental Hero."

Reality chuckled. "Not bad, but you still underestimated my Union card."

Jaden blinked twice. "Oh, how so?"

"Because," Reality stated to his opponent, "by sending Kiryu to the graveyard, my Dark Blade can attack your life points directly!"

Kiryu then turned into pure energy and surrounded Dark Blade; then he flashed past Jaden's defenses and attacked Jaden directly; dropping him down to 2000 life points. "Now I play my last card on the field face down and end my turn."

Jaden drew his card. "I play, Pot of Greed, drawing two more cards," he stated as his hand went up to four cards, "Now I summon, Elemental Hero Burstinatrix."

The Fiery female was summoned to the field. "Now I play, R-Righteous Justice, destroying your Face-Down card."

"I counter, activating it, another Roll Out! Equipping Kiryu back onto Dark Blade," Reality announced as the dragon was reequipped to Dark Blade.

"Well R-Righteous Justice can still destroy another spell or trap card, and I pick your Kiryu," Jaden stated, destroying Reality's dragon.

The audience was in awe by this duel, the match kept swinging from one sided victory to the other; almost making one sea-sick from how much it went up and down.

"Good, you fell right for my trap," Reality smiled.

Jaden was confused once again. "What trap, I don't see another card you can use."

Reality only chuckled. "Well, it's nothing against you; I just did that so you wouldn't destroy my Frontline Base. Now, I hope you have a plan behind all of this."

Jaden chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. "I never have a plan; I rely in my cards as they rely on me. But this one I thought through as I play Polymerization, fusing my Burstinatrix with Bubbleman to summon, Elemental Hero Steam Healer!"

The giant blue and red machine formed onto the field with 1800 attack points. "Huh, same attack, that last card in your hand must be an equipment card."

Jaden nodded. "You got that right, I play H-Heated Heart, increasing my Steam Healer's attack by 500," he stated as Steam Healer went up to 2300. "Now, attack his Dark Blade with Steam Blast!"

The monster lifted one of its heavy arms and from the hole in its hand let out a burst of hot steam, destroying it and dropping him to 2000. "Now my Steam Healer's effect kicks in, letting me gain back the life points from the destroyed monster's attack points."

Jaden's life points went back up to 3800. "Now, I will end my turn."

Reality took a deep breath. "Whoa, this doesn't look good; I better draw something good," he then drew his card, "well, this looks good. I play Pot of Greed, drawing two more cards. "Now I play, Graceful Charity, drawing three more cards as I send two to the graveyard."

He looked at his hand as he discarded an Axe of Despair and another Kiryu. "Now I use Frontline Base, Special Summoning another Pitch-Dark Dragon as I summon along side it, Dark Blade."

The two monsters were summoned to the field in attack mode. "But like your Contact Fusion, I want to show you another type of fusion, this is called Union Fusion."

"Union... Fusion?" Jaden asked.

"Yeah, it's where instead of the graveyard, I remove the monsters from play to Special Summon the fusion monster. So I Remove from Play Dark Blade and Pitch-Dark Dragon to summon Dark Blade the Dragon Knight!"

(Yes I know he is the only exception to that Union fusion rule but like the anime series the rules can be slightly different than in the real world.)

The two disappeared from the field, summoning the dark warrior riding the black dragon with 2200 attack points. "But now I play my rarest and most powerful card, Union Power!"

Reality played the Equipment Spell card onto his monster. "Now this card if very tricky to use," he informed, "it can only equip to a Union Fusion monster, now for every Union monster in my graveyard it gains 1000 attack points, and since I have three it gains 3000 extra attack points."

Dark Blade the Dragon Knight rose to 5200. "Now, attack his Steam Healer!"

The energy shot from Dark Blade's swords combined with the energy fired from Pitch-Dark Dragon into one blast, destroying Jaden's Steam Healer and dropped his life points to 900, nearly knocking him off the dueling platform. "Opps, sorry about that; when I'm having so much fun I sometimes forget to hold back my power. Well I end my turn; hope to see if you can get out of this."

Jaden looked at the field and there didn't seem to be much hope at all. With no cards in his hands or on the field, 900 life points to his 2000; it was all up to this draw.

He placed his fingers on the top card; all of his trust in his cards was in this single draw."

He drew the card. "Now I play the spell card, Hero Draw. By discarding one normal Elemental Hero from my deck to the grave, I can draw two cards off the top of my deck."

Jaden looked through his deck, discarded Elemental Hero Neos to the graveyard, reshuffled and drew the top two cards from his deck. "Next I play O-Oversoul, getting back Elemental Hero Neos in attack mode."

"And finally I play, HERO Flash!!" Jaden announced, "Now this is a really complicated Spell card, it only works by removing from play H-Heated Heart, E-Emergency Call, R-Righteous Justice, and O-Oversoul. Now this turn only, all normal monsters on my side of the field with Elemental Hero in their name can attack you directly."

Reality grinned. "Not bad, not bad at all."

"Now Neos, attack Reality's life points directly!" Jaden called out.

Neos nodded and flew at top speed right past Reality's monster and uppercut him right in the stomach, dropping his life points to 0; ending the duel."

"The winner is," Crowler announced, "Jaden Someone!"

Everyone cheered to Jaden's victory as Reality chuckled with his arms around his stomach. "Well, that's game; hope for a rematch soon."

Jaden chuckled as well. "Hey come on, that's my line," but Jaden then looked concerned, "are you ok?"

Reality struggled to get back onto his feet. "Yeah I'm fine, that punch hurt like heck though. You can say it's the negative part of my powers."

He tried to walk but suddenly fell to his knees. "Yeah, that was quite a punch."

* * *

But during this duel Chief David, escorted by two of his Assailants and Vassal 1, looked over the file in his hand titled; The Blue Rose project. "I see, so the Medical Board is willing to fund for your Cybernetic limbs but aren't willing to fund for your Nano-technology due to the fact that not much progress has come from it."

Will nodded with Peeacee by his side, placing her hand on his shoulder in concern. "Correct; in my research I'm near a break through on the technology but they keep saying that they've already wasted enough money on the project. So I'm coming to your Organization to help fund the project; this alone could easily pay for itself one-thousand fold for what can come from it."

"According to these files my Chief he is onto something," Bastian commented, "and with the funding we are getting from the Electronic Companies that just invested in us we should have more than enough."

David nodded. "Well then, I will give you one week, Mr. Sebastian. With this you get all of the Gravekeeper's resources to your disposal. But if I don't see any progress I will pull this project in a heartbeat and what ever progress you do my Organization can use how we want."

Both Will and Peeacee bowed to David as he stood up. "Thank you very much, Chief David," Will said, "I promise you won't be disappointed at this decision."

But with his back turned to him, Will couldn't see the grin across David's face. "I hope not."

To Be Continued

What does David have planned with The Blue Rose Project, will I have Alexis and Jaden confront their feelings, and what will happen to Duel Academy? Read and Review.


	25. Dancing Duel

Chapter 25: Dancing Duel

Near the end of the first duel to the fourth round it was a close match: with Fredi from Ad Tech Duel Academy VS Reality of Underwater Duel Academy.

It probably wasn't a really good idea for Reality to be up and dueling again, still a bit sore from his match against Jaden but he wasn't going to take a defeat from lying down.

Fredi was down to 1200 life points with a card face down and EARTH Agent: Material in defense mode, protecting his life points with 1900 defense points; not even breaking a sweat as Reality was in a completely different boat.

He was breathing heavily, his duel disk arm around his stomach while his face drenched in sweat, doing what ever he could to protect his remaining 600 life points. He looked at his cards while his vision started to blur, using his card holding arm to wipe his eyes.

Luckily for him, his faithful Dark Blade was on the field equipped with Pitch-Dark Dragon. He had only one shot at this but he didn't know how much longer he could stay standing. "N-Now I will have my, D-Dark Blade attack your monster."

While flying on the dragon, Dark Blade flew up into the air and plunged right at EARTH Agent: Material, slashing it with its giant swords and dropping Fredi's life points to 900 life points. "N-Now, I activate the Quick-Play Spell card, Combination Attack," his breathing became heavier, activating the Spell card, "this c-card, breaks up a Union and haves them both attack; now, e-end this duel!" Reality calls out.

"I activate my face-down card, P.A.C. Assistances," he activated his Trap Card, "This card only activates if you attack again after destroying an EARTH Agent. I flip a coin; if it comes up heads I negate your attacks and then select one of your monsters to attack you directly. If tails; this card is destroyed and your attacks go through."

"Y-You're determining the duel... with a flip of a coin?" Reality asked, "That's a risky card."

But with his normal dark tone, Fredi replied. "Yes, the P.A.C. program can be a bit unreliable."

Then within the stands, Peeacee suddenly felt very cold.

But back to the duel, Fredi flipped the coin between his fingers. "So, are you ready?"

Reality could only nod in reply, breathing harder as the time went by while the others in the stands were wondering how he could keep dueling in his condition.

So Fredi flipped the coin high in the air, the stadium so quiet the ringing of the coin could be heard in the back row; their eyes focusing on it as it came down where Fredi grabbed it in mid-air and slammed it on the back of his other hand.

It was all down to this with Fredi removing his hand, revealing the coin was heads. "It looks like this card can surprise me every now and again. Now, your attacks are canceled and I will have your Pitch-Dark Dragon attack your life points directly.

Then the 900 attack powered beast turned to face his owner and launched its fire blast, dropping Reality's life points to 0 which caused him to collapse on the field.

The Virtual Projections disappeared as the Medical team tended to Reality. "And the winner is," Crowler announced, "Fredi Heat of Ad Tech Duel Academy."

The audience cheered and applauded as Jaden and the gang couldn't believe their eyes. "It doesn't make any sense," Bastian stated, "he knew what condition he was in yet still participated in the duel. It's illogical."

"It's because..." Jaden stated, "He didn't want to let his cards down."

Syrus looked at his friend with a confused look on his face. "What are you talking about?"

* * *

Just before the duel, Jaden approached Reality in the Medical ward. "So, you are really going to duel today? You are still not over your injuries that I... inflicted on you."

Reality rubbed his bandaged stomach as he chuckled. "Ah come on, Jay; you of all people should know why I can't turn down a duel."

Jaden blinked twice. "I do?"

Reality held out his deck in his hand. "Because, there is no way I would let my cards down like that. Even if I lose this match, I want to make sure it is in a blaze of glory. At least I can give them that."

* * *

The gang watches as the Nurses take Reality out on a stretcher as Chazz adds. "Well, it doesn't look like that slacker will be dueling again anytime soon."

Jaden grinned. "Nah," he laughed, "he will be up and dueling again before we know it."

"Hey Alexis!" Syrus called out, watching her walking up to their seats.

Alexis approached them with a depressed look on her face. "So, you couldn't keep him here again?"

The group looked shocked. "What are you talking about?" Syrus asked, "He's right..."

But as they turned around to face Jaden, he was no where to be found. "That guy is quicker than Batman," Chazz stated.

Alexis put on a small smile. "It's alright, but we still need to get some work done. So let's head back to the Gravekeeper's Dorm."

"Alright," the others replied and headed back to their dorm.

Alexis exhaled in depression with the smile quickly disappearing from her face. "Hello, Miss. Rhodes."

Startled at first, she turned to see her Chief looking up at her. "Chief, you spooked me. I thought you didn't have time to make it to today's match."

"The meeting ended early, so I was able to make it for the last two turns," he grinned, "I hope I'm called up for a duel soon, it seems to be the only break I enjoy."

Alexis chuckled a little from that. "Well, for business everything is running smoothly; there are some incidents with a few of the Soldiers but I already have the Watchers looking over it."

"In any growing business some corruption is expected, but I am glad to see you are still able to take charge and run this District of the Organization," he grinned, "It looks like I will have nothing to worry about when I head back to Duel City."

She bowed. "I am glad to hear that from you, my Chief."

"But," that simple word, instantly flipped her cheery personality to that of gloom, "I have noticed your mind has been wandering more than not; that idiot has been on your mind hasn't he?"

Her eyes became soft as she looked down at her feet. "Well, it's just when I got this position; I thought I would be able to finally confront him," she looked away, "but every time I confront him, he just runs off."

Her hand clutched over her heart as a small tear streamed down her cheek. "I just wonder; if he knows how much he hurts me when he does that."

"I'm truly sorry I have no experience in this field to help you, Miss. Rhodes; but I bet overtime everything will be clear. So just give it time."

In his own way, his words seemed to help her as she looked back at him and smiled. "Thanks, I hope you're right," she wiped her eyes with her arm and, "now, we have some contracts to sign, don't we?"

David couldn't help but chuckle. "Why, yes we do."

But just as they were about to leave the stadium, Michael Barak from AD Tech Duel Academy leaned his back against the wall next to the exit. "Hey there Princess Cutie, it's been awhile."

"I already said I won't go out with you, Michael," was Alexis's quick reply, not wanting to beat around the bush at the moment.

Already, Michael looked to be heart broken, in his own overly dramatic way. "Oh come on, Cutie; do you think that little of me?" he asked with his hands over his heart and a tremble in his voice, "all I wanted to ask was a duel from you, if your interested?"

She was about to give him a flat out no, but David patted her on the back. "That wouldn't be a bad idea for you, Miss. Rhodes. Take a break and clear your mind, you do deserve it."

"Fine, my Chief," she replied, walking up to the energetic student from AD Tech Duel Academy, "I could use a duel."

"Then let's head to the platform, Cutie," he replied, letting her walk out first like the gentleman he is.

Then as they both left, David looked at his hand; flexing it as a dark grin crept along his face. "Hopefully," his tone slightly sadistic, "everything will clear up, in time."

* * *

The two got ready with their decks in their duel disks. "Hey there, Princess Cutie," Michael called out, "how about we put up a little wager to this match."

"What do you want to wager?" she asked.

"If I win, we go out on a date," he stated, "but if I lose, I promise I will never bother you again, deal?"

"If you leave me alone after I beat you, then deal," their duel disks activated, "let's duel!"

Their life points went up to 4000 each. "Cuties first," Michael called out.

"Then I draw," she called out, drawing her sixth card, "first I will play my Cyber Tutu to the field in attack mode," she announced, summoning the 1000 attack powered monster, "then I will play one card face down on the field and end my turn."

"My draw," Michael called out, looking at the card in his hand, "well, now I see you use Ballet cards, now check out my Ballroom cards as I summon, Electro Dancer in attack mode!"

Then on his side of the field, a human male shaped creature made of pure electricity, stood before him; wearing a black dance suit from shoes to hat and bearing 1500 attack points. "But my dancer needs a dance partner, so have Cyber Tutu as your dance partner."

Electro Dancer tipped his hat and headed over to Alexis's monster. But unlike the brute frontal attack most monsters do, this one calmly approached Cyber Tutu. When it got face to face to the Ballet monster, he bowed and offered his hand.

Cyber Tutu couldn't help but blush and accepted, where she was quickly pulled into a fast-pace dance number. He then started to spin her faster and faster where she was launched at Alexis and was destroyed, costing the duelist to drop to 3500 life points where Electro Cyber calmly walked back to his side. "As you can see, my Dancer has a lot of energy when it comes to the dance floor. But for now, I will just put one card face down and end my turn."

Alexis drew her card. "Don't get too cocky," she looked at her hand, "I will now summon, Etoile Cyber in attack mode," she announced, summoning her second Ballet Monster to the field with 1200 attack points, "I will also activate my trap card, Call of the Haunted, bringing back Cyber Tutu to the field."

Her monster was re-summoned, giving a flirtatious look to Electro Dancer. "I also equip Cyber Tutu with Angel's Wings!" Alexis stated, equipping her monster with wings on her back, "now attack his life points directly!"

She flew past his monster and attacked his life points directly, sending it down to 3000. "But now Angel's Wings kicks in, making you take an additional 300 points of damage."

His life points dropped down to 2700. "Now I will place one card face down and end my turn."

Michael rubbed the side of his face. "Brute force has never been my style; more of a lover than a fighter cutie," but then he drew his card and smiled, "but now, its time for some real Dance Steps to be shown off."

* * *

Earlier that day, as Jaden just ran out of that stadium he took refuge in the nearby boy's bathroom where he slammed his fist on the sink counter. _I did it again, what is wrong with me,_ he cursed himself, _she was right there, and I still couldn't face her._

Quickly he turned on the cold water and splashed some in his face. He looked at himself in the mirror, cursing himself once again. "I need to stop doing this; but I just can't get myself to talk to her, or even approach her."

But to comfort him in his time of need, his Winged Kuriboh flew by his side, patting his small hand oh Jaden's shoulder. "Hey there little buddy, is anything wrong?"

The fluff ball made a few of its usual sounds, but Jaden seemed to understand it nonetheless, looking depressed. "I know, I don't mean to run away, my body just does what it wants."

It floated to the other side and spoke some more. "Your right, just like how Reality believes so much in his cards, you guys believe so much in me," he slammed his hand into his palm, "alright, I will go find her right now, thanks Kuriboh."

* * *

Now back to the Duel as Michael played is Field Spell Card. "I play, Ballroom Dance Floor," he announced, causing the entire field to turn into one gigantic Ballroom. "Now in a ballroom, it's not right to get out on the dance floor without a partner. So as long as Electro Dancer is out on the field, once per turn I can take a Ballroom Dancer monster from my deck and Special Summon it to the field in attack mode," he pulled out his deck, "well his first Dance Partner will be, Ballroom Dancer: Foxtrot."

The beautiful women with 1400 attack intertwined her arm with Electro Dancer, which seemed to make Cyber Tutu a bit jealous. "Now I will activate my Foxtrot's special ability, allowing me to destroy one face up trap card once per turn by discarding one card from my hand, so say goodbye to your Call of the Haunted."

Her trap card was destroyed, causing Cyber Tutu to disappear off the field. "Well Cyber Tutu was equipped with Angel's Wings, so I get to draw one card."

"Well then, I will now have Ballroom Dancer: Foxtrot attack your Etoile Cyber!" he ordered, causing Electro Dancer to hold his hand out to her and there they fox-trotted out on the middle of the floor, dancing beautifully together.

"You activated my trap," Alexis called out, "Doble Passe, now this attack redirects your attack at my life points!"

Electro Dancer then extended his dance partner out, where with her hand she swatted at Alexis and dropped her life points down to 2100 where Electro Dancer, arm in arm, led Ballroom Dancer: Foxtrot back to Michael's side of the field. "But now, my Etoile Cyber can attack your life points directly, gaining an extra 500 attack points."

With her leg extended out, Etoile Cyber started to spin, raising her attack up to 1700. But as she spun towards Michaels life points, Electro Cyber stood in front of her and grabbed her in a dancing hold. "W-What's going on?"

"Sorry about that, my Electro Dancer can be a bit forward. See if Ballroom Dance Floor along with a Ballroom Dancer, all attacks are directed at my Electro Dancer, so that negates your direct attack, which also reduces your monster's attack."

Etoile Cyber decreased back to 1200 attack points as Electro Dancer spun her back at Alexis, destroying her. "But from this effect, you take no damage to your life points. I will end my turn Cutie."

"I draw then," she announced, drawing her card. "I will now play, Warrior Returning Alive, to bring Etoile Cyber back to my hand then use Polymerization, fusing Etoile Cyber with Blade Skater to summon, Cyber Blader in attack mode."

The lovely Ballet star was summoned to the field in attack mode. "Oh and my Cyber Blader has a special ability of her own. Because you have two monsters on the field, my Cyber Blader's attack doubles," she pointed out as Cyber Blader's attack rose up to 4200, "Now, attack his Electro Dancer with Spin Slash."

"I activate my trap card," Michael announced, "It's called Double Step, raising the attack of my monster by double as well," he stated as his monster went up to 3000, but it was still destroyed by her Cyber Blader, reducing his life points to 1500.

"I will end my turn," she stated.

"I draw," he announced, drawing his card, "but tell me Alexis, as another fellow appreciate of the dancing arts, how do you feel about dancing in the ballroom instead of onstage?"

"Well personally, I don't see much of a difference," she replied.

"How could you say such a thing?" he asked, "a ballroom is where you can dance with the one you care about the most; leading and following each step as if as one with that person. Through these dances our body is able to say what words can't."

But as he said that speech, all that came to mind was Jaden. Her heart started to ache from the pain once again; why did it have to hurt so much? "Just go already," she called out.

"Alright, but that date of ours is drawing ever closer," he replied as he looked at his hand, "well know another special ability of my Ballroom Dance Floor kicks in, because we can't have a ballroom dance without a male dancer, if destroyed I can search through my deck and Special Summon another one to the field in attack mode."

Another Electro Dancer was summoned to the field in attack mode as he added. "Now that he is on the field, I can search for another Ballroom Dancer to the field from my deck; and I summon, Ballroom Dancer: Waltz."

Another beautiful woman any guy would get a card crush on appeared to the field in a stunning white ballroom dress and 2100 attack. "Now that I have three monsters on the field, your Cyber Blader's effect changes into negating the effects of all cards on my side of the field."

Cyber Blader's attack reduced back to 2100. "I'm a bit surprised you knew that," she stated.

"Just because I like Ballroom doesn't mean I don't look up other types, but now back to the duel as I have Waltz attack your Cyber Blader, since your monster negates the effect of its summoning sickness."

Electro Dancer bowed to Ballroom Dancer: Waltz and offered his hand, where she graciously accepted and led out onto the dance floor, slowly he dances with her in small circles with dips and turns, until she spun and hit Cyber Blader, causing both of them to be destroyed in the process. "I will place one card face down on the field and end my turn."

Alexis drew her card and then focused on Michael's side of the field. _Alright, from what I've been able to notice, he can only attack with one monster per turn and even though he attacks with the Ballroom Dancers his main focus is on Electro Dancer and his Field Spell: Ballroom Dance Floor._

She also looked at her small hand compared to his full hand. _Not to mention with those cards he never has to normal summon, allowing him to get the monsters from his deck while keeping all the Spells and Traps needed in his hand for just the right time. Also by drawing any monster he wants from his deck he can use their effects to counter anything I set up. If I want to beat him, I better get him off guard. But with this hand there isn't much I can really do._

"I play the spell card, Pot of Greed, drawing two more cards," she announced, drawing two more cards, "next I play Cyber Gymnast in defense mode."

The muscular gymnast was summoned to the field with 1800 defense points. "Now I activate my Gymnast special ability, by discarding one card from my hand I can destroy one card on your side of the field; and since your Electro Dancer is the only one I can target, I destroy it."

His Electro Dancer was destroyed as she ended her turn. "My draw," he replied, drawing his card, "Now my Ballroom Dance Floor kicks in, letting me Special Summon my last Electro Dancer to the field in attack mode," he stated as the 1500 attack powered monster was summoned to the field, "and now, by discarding up to five cards from my hand to the grave I can activate my Trap card, Rock Step."

He sent four cards to the graveyard and the Trap Card was activated. "Now the first thing it does is allow you to draw as many as I discarded," he informed as Alexis drew four cards, "now by next turn during my Battle Phase I can have up to four of my monsters attack."

"But now the second ability of my Ballroom Dance Floor activates, and the lovely lady I choose for this dance will be, Ballroom Dancer: Paso Doble."

Then the beautiful woman in red was summoned to the field with 1200 attack points. "Now her ability might be very familiar to you, its effect is the same as your Doble Passe."

Alexis was shocked just as Michael ordered. "Now attack her life points directly."

Electro Dancer took Ballroom Dancer: Paso Doble by the hand and led her out on the dance floor. Their dance pace was a bit faster than that of Waltz, "oh and I forgot to mention, when she attacks life points directly, her attack goes up by 800."

Alexis was shocked as Ballroom Dancer: Paso Doble went up to 2000 and hit her, causing her to drop to 100. "Now, your monster gets to attack me directly."

She watched in horror as her Cyber Gymnast switch into attack mode and dashed right at Michael, but just like before Electro Dancer caught her monster in its hold, spun it at high speeds and sent her right back at Alexis, destroying it, "you still take no damage from that ability but it looks like that date is drawing ever closer, I will end my turn."

She had to think of something quickly; being low on life points and one turn away from Rock Step's effect activating. But strangely enough, that wasn't what she was focusing on at all, only the date he kept mentioning made her heart ache even more, only flashing back to the times Jaden keeps running away from her.

The pain from holding in this long was just too much for her; that was, until she heard something snap inside of her. Her eyes, that were always warm and caring, started to turn cold and dark. "I draw," her usual competitive tone was now heartless, "and with this victory will be mine."

"First I play this Spell Card, Warrior Returning Alive, bringing back my Blade Skater from my grave to my hand," she announced as her eyes only continued to grow darker, "now I will summon Cyber Petite Angel to the field."

The strange robotic ball was summoned to the field as she added. "Now I get to draw one Machine Angel Ritual from my deck to my hand as I will now play it, sacrificing the Blade Skater in my hand along with the Cyber Petite Angel on my field to summon Cyber Angel Benten."

The two cards were sent to her graveyard as Cyber Angel Benten was summoned to the field with 1800 attack points. "Now I will have Cyber Angel Benten wipe the floor with your Electro Dancer."

She then dashed at his monster, using her chained fans to slap the dancer across the room without any shred of mercy, destroying it and reducing his life points to 1200. "But now her effect kicks in, taking the defense of your Electro Dancer out of your life points."

He was then completely shocked, realizing his Electro Dancer's Defense was 1200, causing his life points to drop down to 0; ending the duel.

The virtual projections disappeared as all Michael could do was grin. "Darn and I was really hoping for that date of ours. Well, a gentleman's deal is his word."

"Like I had any thought that I was going to go out on a date," she replied coldly, turning her back towards her opponent, "like my precious time would be wasted on something as pointless as dating and romance," she walked away, "now I have some work to get to, so beat it before I call the Watchers to throw you off the island."

But as she walked away, she was unaware of Jaden was watching the duel the whole time from the shadows, wondering if he should have told her sooner.

Yet they were all unaware of David watching the entire match on the computer resting on his desk; his head resting on his intertwined fingers as a grin crept along his face. "Just as I thought," he said to himself in an amused tone, "overtime, everything will be clear."

To Be Continued

It seems like Jaden was too late to telling Alexis his feelings which inurned caused her to become heartless; will Jaden be able to tell her his feelings now? Read and Review to find out.


	26. New recruits

Chapter 26: New recruits

Will Sebastian worked in a state-of-the-art tech lab funded by the Gravekeeper's, working on the computer in front of him while in the center of the room, a single red rose floated in a glass cylinder filled with water.

Peeacee wiped some of the sweat off his forehead as he typed page after page of computer code. She starting to get very worried about him, he hasn't slept in the past two days; this being the last day of the deadline David gave him to make his project work with already twenty-four failed attempts his under his belt.

"Please Will, you need to eat something," she pleaded to him, looking at the full tray next too him, "You haven't touched your food all day."

He breathed heavily. "I can't right now, if this doesn't work I won't have any other chances."

"But Will," she wrapped her arms around her from behind, hugging him tightly, "you can't neglect your health like this," she wished she could cry at this moment, "Just please stop pushing yourself like this."

A knock on the door caused Peeacee to let go of him. "It's open," she called out.

The door slowly opened as Chief David and Vassal 1 walked in. "Hello, Mr. Sebastian," David announced, "this is the last day; I hope everything has worked out with what my Organization has donated for your progress."

"Perfect timing, David," Will stated, "I was just about to perform another test, and this one won't disappoint I promise," he hoped.

"Is there anything I can do, Will," Bastian basically begged to work along side one of his idols.

"Sure," Will replied, turning his attention back to his screen, "Peeacee, please show him what he needs to do."

But Peeacee didn't reply; her face looked to be on the brink of tears as she rubbed one hand over the other.

"Peeacee," Will stated a little louder, snapping her out of her thoughts, "please show what Bastian needs to do."

"Ah, yes," she replied in a depressed tone, leading Bastian over to another computer.

"My entire Organization has complete faith in your abilities, Mr. Sebastian. So please relax and do your best," Chief David commented.

"T-Thanks," Will replied nervously, since his life's work was hanging by a thread on this last test.

All eyes were focused on the rose in the middle of the room. "Releasing the Nano-Machines into the cylinder," Will announced, programming the robotic arm to inject the small vile into the cylinder, "Step 1 complete, now programming the Nano-Machines to enter the rose's DNA structure."

He typed the program at rapid speed. "Bastian how is the condition of the Nano-Machines and the Rose structure?"

"Everything is green so far, Will," Bastian replied.

"Excellent, but step three is where I need for you to take detailed notes; so get ready," Will informed. "Now Step 3, activating the Nano-Machines to change the pigment within the DNA structure."

It all came down to this, one slip up and he could destroy the DNA structure and the project will be deemed as a failure. Nothing seemed to happen for the past few seconds but to their excitement the red rose slowly turned to a light shade of blue.

"It worked!" Will exclaimed. "It's a success!"

"See, I knew you could do it," Chief David replied, "because of your success I want for you to take the day off, but after that I want you to work on perfecting it even for human use and mass producing your brilliant invention. I have big plans for this."

"Thank you, David," Will replied, "If it wasn't for your Organization I don't think this could have been possible."

"But now, get some rest," David replied, "I want you back at one-hundred percent. Let's head out, Vassal 1."

"Yes my Chief," Bastian bowed and followed David out of the room.

But before they walked out, David turned around. "Just to make sure you get some rest, Mr. Sebastian, this lab will be closed for the next twenty-four hours."

Will was shocked to hear this, but the Chief added. "I am well aware of your work-a-holic condition and I'm sorry if I pushed you to hard, but use this time to get the rest your body needs."

He didn't have the energy to put up a fight. "I understand, David."

"Thank you very much, David," Peeacee bowed as David waved when he walked out the door.

* * *

Bastian and David walked down the bare hallway of the Gravekeeper's Dorm. "That was very generous of you, my Chief," Vassal 1 stated. 

"It was nothing compared to what he will soon bring to my Organization," David replied, "but that does remind me, please inform Miss. Rhodes that I would like to speak with her in my office as soon as possible."

"It will be done," he then looked at the clipboard in his hand, "but as we walk, would you like to hear the report so far with the finances?"

He nodded. "Yes, how are the cards sales coming along?"

* * *

Later that same night, David looked out his window at the starry sky, unlike the sky in his city where because of all the lights the stars were barely visible. He gently stirred the glass of apple cider in his hand but before he could take a sip, the door was slammed open. 

He turned around to see Alexis; her happy and kind face was now colder than ice from the depths of Antarctica. "What is with this," her harsh voice yelled, stomping towards his desk as she slammed the paperwork on top of it, "there is an error on the funding, we got a lot less then what we should have on that last shipment."

But as she went on, he only chuckled. "What are you laughing about, my Chief? Someone is obviously taking money from the Organization."

But without another word, David pulled out some paperwork and gave it to her. "Those ones you have I had Vassal 1 send to you instead, these are the real forms."

She was shocked to hear this as her eyes scanned the paperwork. "Why did you do that?"

"Because, it was your final test, Miss. Rhodes," he replied as he poured another glass of apple cider, "I was making sure that your mind was no longer wandering. So take this and celebrate."

Her eyes narrowed at the glass as she accepted it. "You know, you seem to enjoy giving me these tests, my Chief," she stated in a cold tone, taking a few sips.

"It's because I might be able to accept you credentials and abilities, other men might be sexist pigs that will do what ever they can to prove you are not worthy of this position because you are a woman," he replied, "but there is another reason I called you in here."

He took a sip. "So," she sat down in an open chair, "what else did you want to talk to me about."

He opened his desk and pulled out a small envelope, where he handed it over to Alexis. There she opened it to see two cards: Gravekeeper's Cannonholder, Gravekeeper's Commandant and a piece of paper that described what they meant. "These are the two new Districts that I'm planning to open up in the Organization; soon I'm going to bring it up in the Meeting of the Chiefs," he took another sip to finish off his glass, "I need for you to find some new willing members to start them."

She looked over the piece of paper and nodded. "That shouldn't be a problem; I already have two in mind for the Cannonholder's Division."

"Excellent," he grinned, "if they both want the position have them duel, I want to see their capabilities for myself."

She drank the rest of her glass and set it on the desk. "It will be done, my Chief."

She stood up, bowed and started to walk back towards the doors, but was stopped as David asked. "So, you're not going to talk to that idiot anymore?"

Her eyes grew colder, as if they were now made of ice, not even turning around to reply. "Why should I care about that moron?"

With that, she walked out of his office and closed the door; where David rested his chin on his intertwined fingers and grinned from ear to ear.

* * *

The next day came as everyone watched the second match in the fourth round of the tournament coming to an end. "Now my Red Eyes Meteor Dragon," Edgar called out, "attack Kristen's Lady Ninja Yae and end this duel!" 

The 1100 attack power monster stood no chance to his dragon's 3500, so with one powerful molten meteor blast it completely destroyed her ninja and the remainder of her life points.

"The winner of this match is," Crowler announced, "Edgar Knight of Duel City Academy!"

The audience cheered as he bowed, but he also looked around to see David wasn't in the audience, making him wonder what has happened to that strict business duelist he used to call his friend.

But in the stands, Jaden was depressed as well; haven't been able to get a hold of Alexis in any way, shape or form. "Are you ok, Jay?" Syrus asked his good pal.

"It's just," Jaden replied in a worried tone, "besides class I haven't seen Alexis at all."

"Well whatever you did really seem to tick her off," Chazz added his two cents from the seat above, "because she is working the rest of us a lot harder than David ever did."

"So what is up with my sister?" Atticus asked, turning his head to face Chazz.

"I don't really know," then his eyes turned into a pair of beating hearts, "but as long as it's Alexis she can order me all day long."

The small group shook their heads to their love obsessed on-and-off friend. "Well I just know," Atticus looked down, his voice barely above a mumble, "my sister has really changed."

Jaden couldn't help but look away, knowing in some way that this was his entire fault.

* * *

The sun started to set on another day at Duel Academy. The strong waves could be heard clashing against the tall cliff overlooking the seas as Hassleberry and Backfire walked up, each reading the small piece of paper in their hands. 

The stopped as they arrived on the green plateau. "Hey what are you doing here?" the dinosaur duelist called out.

"I'm here for a job interview," Backfire replied, "why are you here?"

"I'm here for a job interview as well!"

"You are both here," they heard a cold female voice call out to them, causing them to turn and see Alexis walking up to them, "and on time as well, very nice."

She stopped. "Who in Sam Hill are you?" Hassleberry called out.

But Backfire hit the muscle bound teen over the head. "Are you blind? She is the Chief of the Gravekeeper's Organization! Alexis Rhodes."

"I'm glad to know you know what your dealing with, Backfire," she smirked icily, "but the reason I called you two here is because a new Division might be opening up in the Organization and both are you are eligible for a 1 rank in this District."

Backfire grinned. "You got my attention."

"A top rank," Hassleberry thought aloud, "I like the sound of that."

"Good to see that you're both on the same page, but since you both want the position it will be decided in a Duel. Ok?"

They looked over at each other, grinned and nodded to Alexis. "Alright, let's start the interview," she smirked.

* * *

The two had their duel disks ready and 4000 life points each. "Let's duel!" they called out, starting the match. 

"Rock and Roll," Backfire announced in his serious tone as he drew his sixth card, "Now I start off the match with my Spell Card, Terran Command Center!"

Then behind the duelist, a large steel dome structure floated down from the sky and locked itself on the ground. "Now this Spell of mine comes with its own construction team, so it let's me, once per turn, to grab a Terran Spell Card from my deck."

He searched through his deck, grabbed a card, shuffled and returned his deck. "Now I play the Spell Card, Terran Factory."

From the Command Center, humanoid Machines rolled out and built the structure, where they returned back to the building. "So now I will summon, Terran Marine in attack mode,"

The 1500 attack powered humanoid monster was then summoned to the field, in a large blue armored suit making him look bigger than he really was, holding a large gun that only a man with super human strength could carry, let alone fire. "With that I will end my turn, give me something to shoot."

"Ten-four!" Hassleberry called out, drawing his sixth card, "Now come to the front-line Gilasaurus!"

There, the 1400 attack powered Raptor was summoned to the field where Backfire was shocked. "Oh my gosh, your whacked!" he blurted, "he is weaker then my Marine."

"Well grunt," the Dino duelist smirked, "you might want to know that was a special summon, because he is being used for a sacrifice so Gilasaurus, you are dismissed."

The vicious dinosaur was sent to the graveyard, "Now come out and fight, Dark Driceratops."

Then, the large Jurassic beast was summoned to the field with 2400 attack points. "Now attack his Marine, forward march!"

It flapped its large wings to fly high into the air, and then skydived straight down, destroying Backfire's monster and dropping his life points to 3100. "Now I will stand down, your move."

Backfire grinded his teeth as he placed his fingers on the next card. "I vote I frag this commander," he drew his card."

* * *

Alexis watched the match from a distance, smiling icily. "I hope the view is alright for you, my Chief," she spoke into her headset. 

"Yes it is," his voice replied, "isn't technology great?"

"Well I hope you are enjoying the match so far, such a difference between the two don't you think?"

"Yes there is," he chuckled slightly, "one duels with the future as the other duels with the past, I can't wait to see how this turns out. But we aren't focusing on their differences here, their similarities is what I am most interested in."

"Well for a 1 rank on the line, we are in for quite a show," she replied, watching the match with dark eyes.

* * *

Backfire looked at the new card. "Well, with that move you got my attention," he grinned, "time to fire it up." 

But just as it hit his Standby Phase, the Terran Factory behind him started to light up. "Ah, now the special ability of my Terran Factory kicks in, since 1 turn has past I'm allowed to special summon from my deck, a Terran Vulture."

There on his side of the field, a humanoid monster rode a hovering motorcycle with only 1000 attack. "But before I go more into him, my SCV's need to build me another building; and the building is, Terran Starport!"

The humanoid machines left the Command Center once again to build a large building complete with a landing platform, where they returned to the main base. "Job's finished. But now onto the Vulture, because I sac him to summon, Terran Siege Tank!"

His monster then disappeared from the field where in its place; a large heavily armored tank with 2000 attack aimed its large cannons at the large Dinosaur. "And you called me whacked," Hassleberry stated, "now you've summoned a weaker monster."

"I'm about to drop the hammer," he grinned, "because of its Special Ability it can transform; so, move it!"

Hassleberry watched as the Siege Tank turned around, aiming the cannon right at Backfire. But then, from its sides, two large legs came out and secured itself to the ground and the cannons itself folded in where the back grew out and aimed right at Dark Driceratops. "It's jacked up and good to go; using its ability it can destroy one monster with a weaker defense than its attack once per turn," he informed, "so Siege Tank, fire it up!"

Then with a sound barrier blast, it wiped out the Dino Duelist monster, leaving only a smoking crater. Without being grounded the tank would have probably flown off of the cliff. "Nothin' like a good smoke," Backfire commented, "but there are two drawbacks to this: now I can't attack with it and it can't switch into defense. But before I end my turn I play the spell card, Operation C.W.A.L."

(Authors note: it stands for Can't Wait Any Longer)

But after he activated that spell, nothing happened. "Ah, your going to have to give me the 411 on this card," Hassleberry stated.

"De-lighted to SIR," Backfire called out, "well from now on, each of my standby phase counts as two for my structures, letting me summon others a lot quicker. I'm standin' by for your move."

Hassleberry could tell that he wasn't doing to well, even though so far he has been the only one to do any damage that won't be true for very long. "I draw," he drew his card then grinned, "well your not the only one who can summon stronger creatures faster."

"Yeah?" Backfire asked.

"Well first I will play my spell card, Living Fossil, allowing me to bring back a dinosaur from my grave at the cost of 1000 of its attack points," he announced as he pulled Dark Driceratops back to the field, "but know I will play Big Evolution Pill, Tributing my Dino and now for the next three turns I can Normal summon without a tribute. And I will start off with Black Tyranno."

The large T-Rex was then summoned to the field with 2600 attack points just as Hassleberry opened his field spell holder. "And I will also big you to my world, Jurassic World."

He set the Field Spell where the area around them was changed into a dinosaur's paradise. "This field spell gives all of my dinos a 300 point boost, so my Black Tyranno goes up to 2900. Black Tyranno, charge!"

But as the large dinosaur was charging, a small spider-like robot appeared out of the ground. "What in Sam Hill is that?"

"I have ways of blowing something up," Backfire grinned, "it's the special ability of my Vulture, when it's summoned it implants that little device into the ground, now when you attacked it will attack your dinosaur and drop it by 500 attack points.'

The spider then kamikazed at the Black Tyranno, dropping it down to 2400; but that didn't slow it down as it destroyed Backfire's Siege Tank, dropping him down to 2700. "With a card face down I will end my turn."

"Good to go," Backfire replied, drawing his next card, "Well it's my standby phase, so I will have my Command Center build me a Terran Barrack," there one his fourth spell/trap zone the humanoid robots built a large building then returned to the Command center. "Now my Terran Factory kicks in, letting me Special Summon to the field Terran Goliath."

The large heavily armed combat walker was summoned to the field with 2500 attack points, but strange enough it took up two Monster Zones. "The only drawback to this creature takes up two zones because of its size, but now it's my Main Phase and I play the Spell Card Show me the Money, allowing us both to replenish our hands back up to 6 cards."

They both drew till they had six cards. "Now I summon, Terran Firebat in attack mode," he stated as the 1700 humanoid monster was summoned, looking just like a Marine but in a red suit, "Now Goliath, identify target and proceed!"

The combat walker turned its axis to aim its two Gatling arms and fired, putting more holes in the prehistoric beast then roll of Swiss cheese and dropping Hassleberry's life points to 3900. "Now Firebat, let's burn!" he called out as his troop approached the Dinosaur duelist and with a flamethrower on each arm blasted him with a wall of fire where it left him with 2100 life points.

"OUCH THAT'S HOT!" Hassleberry yelled; running all over the place as Backfire could only smile.

"I love the smell of napalm. I will now place a card face down and end my turn."

Hassleberry drew his card. "I will now discard one card from my hand to activate my face-down card," he said as he discarded his Super Conductor Tyranno, "Fossil Excavation. Now I can special summon my Super Conductor Tyranno to the field in attack mode."

But Backfire was confused from the appearance of the 3300 attack powered monster, but 3600 because of the field spell. "Come again, Cap'n?" he called out. "When did you get him in the graveyard?"

"That's Sergeant to you!" Hassleberry yelled, "I discarded it to activate the ability of my trap, but now I will also use the ability of my Big Evolution Pill to summon my Ultimate Tyranno!"

Then another giant T-Rex was summoned to the field with 3000 attack points, now up to 3300 because of the field spell. "Now I play the spell, Dino Roar, it only works if I have a Dinosaur on the field; it allows me to destroy as many face-up spells and traps on the field as there are dinos on the field. So now my Dinos will destroy your Command Center and Factory!"

Both of the dinosaurs' roars blasted away his two buildings. "Now I will have my Ultimate Tyranno attack your Firebat, and because of its ability it has to attack all of your monsters."

"Not so fast! Backfire called out, "I too activate my trap card, Infested Terran."

The trap card revealed itself, "Now my Firebat becomes infested, no longer anything human."

The Firebat then gave a horrifying scream as a strange organism could be seen covering the soldier; then with tentacles coming out of its back and glowing red eyes it charged headfirst at the attacking dinosaur. "Now he is nothing more than a mindless bomb."

The Infested Firebat jumped headfirst at Ultimate Tyranno and exploded, taking the dinosaur with him. "You would just sacrifice your men like that?" Hassleberry exclaimed in disgust, "That's horrible."

"I read you," he replied unhappily, "but all is fair in war."

"Well then; Super Conductor Tyranno, attack his Goliath!"

His other T-Rex then launched its electric attack, overloading the machine into fireworks; dropping Backfire's life points to 1600. "I will end my turn; now let's see you recover from this!"

"Roger that," Backfire stated as he drew his card, "Well I will use my Barracks ability, summoning a Terran Firebat in defense mode, he called out as Firebat was summoned with 1500 defense. "Then I play the Spell card, Terran Bunker," he stated as a Bunker appeared in the Monster Zone over the Firebat, "now no matter how strong the attack, this negates one of them, I will now end my turn."

But even though it looked grimed for him, he could only smile in his mind. _Come on, just one more turn and you will see the most powerful monster in my deck._

Hassleberry drew his card. "Well then, your lucky I don't have any monsters to summon with Big Pill, but I can summon Archeonis in attack mode," he stated overconfidently, sounding like he believed he was going to win this match even with summoning a 300 attack powered monster, "I will also equip him with Sharp Talons, increasing his attack by 800."

The annoying Jurassic bird went up to 1100 life points as he also informed. "Oh, and this monster can attack you directly, so go my Archeonis, attack his life points directly!"

Backfire was shocked as the bird flew over his defenses and clawed at him, dropping his life points to 500. "Now Super Conductor Tyranno, attack his Bunker!"

The lighting storm destroyed his Firebat's only defense as Hassleberry then ended his turn.

Backfire drew his card and said. "He's dead Jim!"

"Who's Jim?" the Dino Duelist asked.

"Well, you really should have used your Dino Roar on my Starport, because three of my standby phases have come. So now I will summon my most powerful monster, Terran Battlecruiser!"

Hassleberry was glad he wore brown pants that day as he saw that spaceship, both heavily armored and equipted with enough firepower to cause another mass extinction on the dinosaurs; taking up three monster zones, 3500 attack points with 4000 defense. "Battlecruiser operational!"

Hassleberry was completely speechless by its presents as Backfire explained about it. "This usually takes six turns to summon with Starport but Operation C.W.A.L. really helped, making only three turns, but now I will use the Spell card, Yamato Gun! Allowing me to destroy every monster on your side of the field in one giant blast!"

A large gun came out of the front of the Battlecruiser, charging up a strange orange energy where it fired, leaving no trace of Hassleberry's monsters with an Earth-shaking explosion. "Your lucky though, my Battlecruiser can't attack after that spell; but my Firebat can," he switched his monster to attack, "now turn up the heat!"

The Firebat launched its attack, dropping Hassleberry's life points to 400. "I'm just curious, why am I so good?" Backfire chuckled. "I will end my turn."

Hassleberry knew that he had no card that could stand up to that kind of firepower, but he still drew his next card. But he just smiled, folded the cards in his hand and placed them back on the top of his deck. "I'm going to have to retreat; my forces aren't strong enough to defeat what you have now."

The virtual projection then disappeared as Backfire cheered. "I am invincible, that's right!"

"Well, you put up a good match," Hassleberry complimented, "it looks like you get the 1 position."

"Not quite," they heard a male's voice from a speaker system, turning to see Alexis walking up to them, holding out her headset with the speaker system on, "Miss. Rhodes never said that the winner would get the position."

"The Head Chief," Backfire said in shock, saluting along with Hassleberry.

"I have been watching this match through this devise and I must admit this was quite a match. But I'm going to give the position to Mr. Hassleberry."

Hassleberry was thrilled. "Thank you, Chief."

But Backfire wasn't. "How so?"

"Well because, if it wasn't for you summoning that Battlecruiser you would have lost, putting all your faith in one move isn't what I'm looking for in that division. But Hassleberry pulled out some great strategies and also knew when to retreat when needed," David replied, "but I will give you the 2 Rank, where when you return to your area you will get a 1 Rank."

"Thank you, Chief David."

"Well now, head back to your dorms; you will be informed on your positions in two days."

They saluted and walked off, leaving Alexis grinning icily. "Well, it looks like once your idea passes through the Meeting of the Chiefs, the Division will already have willing members," she placed the headset back on.

David chuckled. "Yes Miss. Rhodes; soon Project Terraforming will be up and running with the full force of the Gravekeeper's Organization behind it."

To Be Continued

What is the Cannonholder and Commandant Division going to be, what does David have planned with the Blue Rose Project and what is Project Terraforming? Read and (I can't stress this enough) **review **to find out.


	27. Project Terraforming

Chapter 27: Project Terraforming

Chief David relaxed at his desk that dark night as Bloodlust from Vlad Duel Academy sat across from him, asking his Chief for a better position then as the Guard he was. "You are asking to be a Chief yourself?" David asked, grinning to the thought.

Bloodlust nodded. "Yes, my Chief; so once I return to Vlad Duel Academy your Organization will be able to spread there as well."

David turned his chair to face the window behind him, tapping the tips of his fingers together while he pondered this thought. "You know, from all the information I have gathered on you and your group, trusting has always led to... problems."

Bloodlust couldn't help but chuckle from hearing this. "Well, that was how we use to act before you gave us this great opportunity, but I can assure you that I will not let you down if I was given that position. I bet from that same report you could see my leadership skills."

He turned his chair to face Bloodlust. "Captain of the Debate and Future Leaders of the World Club; taking after your family business, being the first heir and all."

"You have to pay the bills somehow," he joked, "but do we have a deal?"

David continued to tap his fingertips together. "I'm going to have to think about this."

Bloodlust then had a quick thought. "Well, rumor has it through the Organization; that we are the next ones to duel in the tournament tomorrow; want to settle it there?"

David chuckled. "That sounds reasonable."

* * *

Jaden relaxed on his bed, the Ra dorm feeling completely vacant since at least 65 percent of the student body was now at the Gravekeeper's Dorm. He stared up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head, only thinking about what Atticus said to him, how much his sister had changed.

Jaden rolled onto his side, facing the wall; thinking that if he just figured it out his feelings sooner, actually approached Alexis instead of running away, or wasn't so stupid as to be completely oblivious to how she felt, she might still be the strict but kind and loving girl he once knew.

Since he couldn't sleep, he sat up and walked to his desk. Looking in the mirror he could hardly recognize himself with those panda bear eyes while that dumbfounded smile on his face was nowhere to be found. He wondered what ever happened to his old self.

After thinking that, he realized something; what did happen to his old self. He would have just gone out and did it. "That's it," he slammed his fist into his hand, "tomorrow I will just go up and tell her, her old self is still in there as well. How hard could it be?"

* * *

But just like Bloodlust said, the next day came and in the third match of the fourth round David was having his match with Bloodlust.

Even though both of their life points were still pretty high, David having 2200 and Bloodlust having 3000, it looked grim for the Chief as all he had on the field was his Necrovalley Field Spell card, his Gravekeeper's Curse in defense and one card face down in the Spell Trap Zone, Bloodlust already had his Lord on the field and it was his turn to attack.

"Now Lord," Bloodlust commanded, "destroy his defenses!"

The giant black skulled creature slammed its large hand over the Curse, not even giving it a chance. "I will end my turn, my Chief," he replied with a smirk on his face.

"You can win, Chief David!" the Organization members cheered their lungs out.

But in the stands, Edgar watched this match closely; he knew something was off but he just couldn't tell what it was.

"E-Edgar," Jasmine said, "you're hurting my hand."

He snapped out and looked down at his hand tightly cupping hers. Quickly he released it. "I'm sorry, are you ok?"

She rubbed her hand. "Yeah, I'm alright," she looked away from him, "but what were you so deep in thought about?"

He looked back out at the duel, his eyes focused on his friend from Duel City. "There is something about this duel."

Calmly, she wrapped her arms around his, pressing it close to her pounding heart. "Talk to him after the match, I'm sure you two have a lot to catch up on."

He looked down at her with that gentle smile on his face. "How could I be so lucky to have you as my girlfriend?"

David drew his card; and with that card he grinned, knowing his victory was a sure thing. "It looks like your position is going to have to be postponed."

"Don't you sound all high and mighty?" Bloodlust grinned, "With Lord on my field my Chief position is near."

"Well then, I will play my Trap Card, Rite of Spirits: bringing back my Gravekeeper's Curse in attack mode," he stated, summoning his 800 attack powered monster, but with Necrovalley it grew to 1300, "but when he is summoned, you automatically take 500 points of damage."

A green energy surrounded Bloodlust, dropping his life points to 2500. "But now I will use him as a sacrifice..."

"What will your Chief do in this situation?" Bloodlust commented.

"Who says I was sacrificing my Curse for Chief," his grin grew larger, showing some of his teeth, "I sacrifice my Curse for The End of Anubis!"

There his Gravekeeper disappeared, and in its place a giant blue Anubis was summoned to the field, its size rivaling that of Bloodlust's Lord.

But this move completely shocked Edgar, remembering a little chat they had a few years ago.

It was a younger time; both of them at the age of 10 wanting to try out for a Gang; constructing their decks to do so; with hundreds of other cards scattered on the ground of David's bedroom.

"So, you are really going to try out for the Dragon Gang?" David asked as he was constructing his Gravekeeper Deck, looking at the Gravekeeper's Chief in his hand.

"Sure as I'm standing here," he paused, "well, sitting. But it looks like you're finally going to try out for the Gravekeeper's."

"I will do my best," David replied, sounding a bit nervous in his tone but a happy smile was clearly shown on his face, "just being allowed to take the test is an honor in itself."

"That Gang is just way too strict for my taste," Edgar replied, holding his very rare and prized Red Eyes Black Dragon in his hand, "but this being in my first pack of cards was like a sign saying I was destined for the Dragon Gang, I know I'm going to kick butt!" he then couldn't help but grin, "I also heard Kimberly from down the street is trying out for the Gravekeeper's, heard she wants to try out for the Assailant Division. Wonder if you can date her if you're both in that Gang."

David groaned, cursing how many times he keeps bringing this up. "How many times have I told you, Edgar; she is only a childhood friend of mine, nothing more."

"I still think she has a crush on you," he added a quick comment, but before David could chew him out on it he added while holding up the monster The End of Anubis, "hey, this card also negates the graveyard you should put this in your deck."

"But that card completely negates the Graveyard," David replied without even having to look at the card, "the Gravekeeper Deck is there to work with the Graveyard just like the Gravekeeper's Gang is to work with the other gangs, that card goes against what the Gravekeeper's stand for."

"Ok ok," Edgar replied, a bit thrown off by his friend's statement, "I get it, you won't ever use this card."

* * *

But there it was, summoned on David's side of the field by his own free will. He now knows for certain, something is wrong with his friend.

"So what is this guy supposed to do?" Bloodlust asked, "If it is to remove my Sin cards you can't do that because your Necrovalley prevents that."

David chuckled. "Oh it's nothing like that; see his effect is actually similar to my Necrovalley. But unlike how my Necrovalley puts a gate around the graveyard this monster puts a box around it, not even allowing the effects of cards in the graveyard to get out: so that means the Sin cards that give your Lord its power can no longer pass through the graveyard."

"But that means..." Bloodlust's eyes were wide with shock, as by the mere presence of that Anubis caused his Lord to disappear.

"It leaves your life points wide open. So Anubis, end this duel!" David ordered as his beast opened his mouth wide and let out an earthshaking roar, dropping Bloodlust's life points to 0.

"The winner of the Third Match in the Fourth Round," Crowler announced over the speaker system, "Che... David Sepulcher of Duel City Academy!"

"All hail our Chief," one of the audience members shouted as the rest agreed, cheering their lungs out as David walked off the stage.

But as he walked down that hallway, he was stopped by Edgar who was leaning his back against the wall. "Hey there Edgar, did you like the match?"

"Why do you have that card in your deck?" Edgar replied in a dark tone, not wanting to beat around the bush.

"Why, is there a problem with having that monster in my deck?" he asked with a cocky grin.

"Dude, you've been acting strange ever since your Gang became an Organization," Edgar stated, "at first I thought it was just the extra work on you but now I see that you have just changed."

"I don't know what you are talking about, but I do need to get back to my Organization; that was a fun break."

David then walked by the Leader of the Dragon Gang, but stopped when Edgar asked. "Where is he?"

Edgar's Duel Spirit appeared next to him in the hallway. "I thought I noticed something strange," he commented, "I haven't seen your Duel Spirit for a while now, where is he?"

But David's eyes grew darker as his grin grew larger. "You know, Edgar; you never did know when to drop something."

* * *

Jaden waited patently outside the stadium, watching everyone walking out while keeping a close eye out for Alexis. But even though he hasn't seen her yet, it felt a lot easier when he was planning it last night then it was right now.

But there she was, walking out of the Stadium with that cold look in her eyes. So as she past him he approached her. "Alexis?" his voice stuttered to get her attention, suddenly feeling as if butterflies where in his stomach.

She turned around and looked down at them; this was the first time he actually felt like she was looking down at him because of her own superiority. That coldness in her eyes was something he never thought she could have, always been so kind before. "What do you want?" she asked harshly.

He could hear her tapping the floor with her foot, obviously stating to him that she would rather be anywhere else then here at that moment. "I just wanted to tell you, how I'm sorry that I kept running away when you wanted to talk to me."

"Is that all," she asked in an icy tone, her cold eyes only intensified, "you're wasting my precious time with some pathetic apology I could care less about?"

He couldn't help but continue to stutter at her dark presence. "You are worthless, why I even took any interest in you as a friend I will never know," she turned her back to him, "now I have more important matters to attend to."

"Hold on, Ale..." he tried to stop her, but a loud slap could be heard echoing through the halls.

Everyone around them was either completely shocked or continued to walk by, ignoring what just conspired while Jaden was sitting on the ground, rubbing the large red mark on the side of his face as Alexis only looked down at him with a tightened fist. "Your filthy hands are going to dirty my uniform; not to mention you've already wasted enough of my time, scum," she turned her back towards him once again, "stop me again and I will have the Guards deal with you."

There she walked off, leaving Jaden where he sat; his heart feeling like she just drove a knife through it.

* * *

It was getting darker, dinner was just about to be served as Jasmine walked the halls of the stadium, wondering where Edgar could be; already checking his dorm and a few of their spots.

"Edgar!" she called out, hearing her voice echo through the vacant halls, feeling a bit scared as the only light came from the moon shining through the windows.

She rubbed her bare arms and called out again. "Edgar! Are you in here?!"

This time however, her calls were answered by a disturbing groan. Her eyes went wide, never hearing any rumors about the Stadium being haunted, only wishing that she were in Edgar's arms, protecting her like he would always do. "W-Who's there?"

She couldn't keep her legs from shaking as the groaning got louder, walking closer to where it was coming from.

She came up to the hallway that led into the stadium, where her eyes went wide from a different kind of fright. "Edgar! What happened?!"

* * *

Later that night, David and Alexis relaxed in the meeting room, just to see the other Chief's across the world quickly joining in on the screen. "I'm glad you all made it to the first: Meeting of the Chiefs."

"You must be up to something big to call something like this, Head Chief," the male Chief from New York City stated.

"Yes, I do have something big planned," David replied, "by now all of you have gotten the file that was just sent to each of your mailboxes. That one right there is on a project Chief Alexis's Branch of the Organization has been working on, which is called: The Blue Rose Project."

Each of the Chiefs looked at the file that was just sent to them. "Now you have all the information there, but let me give you the shorthand version; The Blue Rose Project is a project on Nano-Machines that is able to construct on DNA itself, when this is perfected, there isn't telling how much this could do. Not only can these machines, if injected into our member's bodies: can prevent or cure any disease, increase their attributes from intelligent to strength, and even cure male-patterned baldness."

A few of the Chiefs couldn't help but chuckle from that statement. "But the machines themselves could even work in the hostile environments on this planet, making it livable for humans to exist. So that's why I suggest the creation of this new Division," he held up the Gravekeeper's Commandant Card, "The Commandant Division, this Division will focus on mass producing this technological marvel where, just like this cards effect, will help Terraform this planet."

"We could probably have a few of the Curses transfer over to that Division," the mid-twenties female Chief from London, England stated, "I will second that motion."

"All in favor?" Chief David asked, as they all agreed, "excellent, the Commandant Division is now included into the Gravekeeper's Organization."

The Chiefs applauded to the new addition as David wasn't finished. "Now then, with that Division now in the Organization, what can stop us from having the Organization take control of this world itself?"

The other Chiefs were a bit shocked by this statement from their Head Chief, all except Alexis of course. "Could you please explain yourself, My Chief," the teenage male from China asked, "not to be disrespectful; but it sounded like you were suggesting World Domination."

"Well, in a way I was," David replied, "think about it for a second, this Organization already stretches to the far corners of the world. It wouldn't be too much trouble to take it over. By taking over every other business and merging it into ours, we could have complete control of what goes on."

Everyone started to seem a bit interested now, but still not completely on board. "Well let me ask you a question, who usually gets paid the big bucks in the world?"

"CEO's?" the male in his late twenties from Australia replied.

"Close, but no," David replied, "It is celebrities, sports starts, and spoiled girls; they are the ones who get the big bucks while Schools, Cities, and Hospitals are always under funded. Now if you ask me, I would rather have the money going to them then those jerks spawning another generation of idiots. So with our Organization in command, that would be as easy to do as signing our names on a document."

"But that is only the tip of the iceberg for what we could really do," David added, "as the worlds' corporations as one, there won't be backstabbing, money and medical supplies will be given to countries that need it, and not to mention we can stop Terrorism and Racism in its tracks. Think about it, a world where Money isn't the deciding factor in a decision."

All of the Chiefs finally agreed with their Head Chief on this topic, but the male Chief, in his early twenties, from South America asked. "Will another Division be needed for what you have planned?"

Chief David nodded, holding up the Gravekeeper's Cannonholder Card. "The Cannonholder Division aka the Military Division. For what I have planned a few idiots will be threatened by change; so to protect the pride and structure of this Organization we will need this Division up and running."

"But by making this Division will be like stating to the world we are going to war," London's Chief stated.

"No," David replied, "this will be stating we will be ready for anything. The Gravekeeper's Organization will help with the first giant step towards the evolution in humanity," he then asked, "So what is your say in creating, the Cannonholder Division."

"I second the motion," Alexis stated.

"All in favor?" Chief David asked.

76 percent of the Chiefs raised their hands in agreement. "All opposed?"

22 percent of the Chiefs raised their hands to that. "That leaves 2 percent undecided but because of majority ruling the Cannonholder Division is now apart of the Gravekeeper's Organization."

They all applauded themselves to their new addition. "Well I am glad we were able to get through this meeting so quickly, because we now have a lot of work to get through if we want this to work: this will be known as, Project Terraforming."

The Chief's put their right hands over their hearts and cheered. "All hail the grave."

Chief David then disconnected himself from the monitors and grinned. "Well, that was easier than I expected."

Alexis chuckled. "Well, it looks like I get to tell Hassleberry and Backfire the good news."

David chuckled. "An old friend once told me that my Organization now controls the Business and Dueling world, if I controlled Politics I would rule the world; so why go through all that paperwork when I can just create my own?"

Alexis let out a short chuckle. "I see what you mean, my Chief."

He then stood up proudly and stated. "Well soon, the Gravekeeper's Organization will remake the world, almost like covering it in a new light."

To Be Continued

A war is about to begin; get your front row seats now before they fill up. Read and (I can't stress this enough) **review.**


	28. Former meets Current

Authors Note: After this Chapter the Fourth Round has ended, so far the ones out are.  
**Czar** from North Duel Academy

**Twister** and **Reality** from Underwater Duel Academy

**Dawn** and **Nicole** from Klein Duel Academy

**Sword Hunter** and **Bloodlust** from Vlad Duel Academy

**Chazz** from Duel Academy

So all that is left is

**Fredi** and **Kristen** from AD Tech Duel Academy

**David** and **Edgar** from Duel City Academy

**Jaden** from Duel Academy

Each one (besides Fredi) has 1 loss, so the Championship is up for grab.

Chapter 28: Former meets Current

On a Gravekeeper's helicopter rushing towards the Island of Duel Academy, Assailant 1 Kimberly Ann Mausoleum from Duel City Academy sat along side with an early twenties man. Her eyes focused on the Island as she heard the pilot state it will be another ten minutes till they land.

The image of her Chief appeared in her mind, she knew with all that was happening within the Organization there must be something wrong with him. _Please my Chief,_ she thought in a worried tone, _be alright; make these thoughts I'm having be a mistake._

* * *

But back on the Island; Jasmine, along with Atticus, and Jaden sat by Edgar's bed in the Medical wing of the school just after Jaden won his match against Nicole from Klein Duel Academy, completing the Fourth Round to the Ultimate School Duel; which at this time didn't seem to make a differences anymore.

"I'm glad to see you two came," he stated, still a bit week from his four days of sleep.

"Well we both weren't willing at first," Atticus declared in a dark tone, glaring at the one who put him in a coma not to long ago, "but Jasmine wouldn't take no for an answer."

Jasmine blushed a bit. "I know, my dark side has made a bad first impression on both of you, but this is serious," he replied, looking at Atticus, "I heard you were Alexis's older brother and you Jaden are her best friend, if anyone could get through to her it should be you two."

Atticus scratched his cheek with his index finger. "Well, on her better days."

Yet all Jaden could do was remember that punch she gave him to the face, the swelling only recently gone down as he caressed the side of his face.

Edgar looked away. "She should know there is something wrong with David, he isn't himself anymore and I don't want anyone to get involved."

But their discussion was interrupted by a knock on the door. Their attention turned to see none other than Assailant 1 from Duel City Academy rush in. "I knew it," she blurted out in a panic, "there is something wrong with my Chief."

Jaden and Atticus were puzzled by this new face. "Ah, who are you?" Jaden asked.

She was completely shocked by her sudden entrance; she bowed to the two boys. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to intrude like this."

Edgar couldn't help but laugh at her expression. "You can calm down now Kimberly, no need to lose yourself."

She stood back up, her face red from embarrassment. "Oh yeah," she calmed down and bowed again, "my name is Kimberly Ann Mausoleum, Assailant 1 from Duel City Academy."

The two boys were shocked hearing this, this frail nervous girl was an Assailant in the Gravekeeper's Organization. Her ebony hair was short with thin glasses rested over her fragile brown eyes. "Yeah I know, she doesn't look the part but when she is focused she is a very capable member."

She childishly stuck her tongue at the Leader of the Dragon Gang but afterwards put on a serious expression. "But what you were saying before, what is wrong with my Chief?"

His expression also turned serious. "I'm not sure, I tried to talk with him, but all I remember was a bright white light and then I woke up here."

Jaden suddenly remembered to what Aquos said a little while ago, how even though Sartorius was defeated the presence of the White Light was still around. "Did you say white light?" Jaden nearly shouted.

Edgar nodded. "Yeah, it just came out of nowhere."

"So that's where the Surge of Light is," Aquos appeared before them, shocking everyone.

"And I thought I burst in here," Kimberly commented, feeling her racing heart.

"What are you talking about?" Atticus asked, not able to see or hear the Duel Spirit in the room.

"So what is this... Surge of Light?" Edgar asked.

"It is a spacial anomaly that when in contact with a being, possessing them to strive for power and control," Aquos explained, "it must be residing in your friend the leader of this Gravekeeper's Organization. It must be stopped at all cost."

Edgar grinned. "As long as I get my friend back, I'm in," his eyes glowed red, "even if I have to work with a Hero to do it."

Jaden had a nervous dumbfounded smile on his face, just to realize another person to walk into the Medical ward. He was older than the rest of them, at least in his mid-twenties, wearing a desert brown business suit and a clean hair cut. "And I will do all I can to help my predecessor."

The rest of the group turned to see who was talking, where Atticus was wide eyed in excitement. "N-No way, you're Mr. Grave!"

Jaden looked over at his icon-knowing friend. "Who is... Mr. Grave?"

Atticus was shocked to even hear such words come out of someone's mouth. "Are you kidding me? How can you not know who Mr. Grave is?"

Jaden rubbed the back of his head with that grin still on his face. "I just don't, who is he?"

Atticus took a deep breath. "Mr. Grave is the top ranked duelist in the Pro League, beating The D after his ten year winning streak and is currently the second in line to run Industrial Illusions after Pegasus retires; making business deal after business deal a complete success."

Mr. Grave couldn't help but chuckle a bit. "Well I'm glad to see you are so enthusiastic on my accomplishments."

"But why are you here, Grave?" Edgar asked.

"Kimberly here called me personally, stating that something wrong was with Chief David, so I rushed over. I would have never guessed it was that serious."

Jaden was still a bit confused from all of this. "So, why did you rush over then?"

All of them couldn't help but fall over in shock from how dense he was. "How you can use Hero cards I will never know," Edgar's dark voice sent shivers up the Ra student's spine.

"I didn't think I would have to tell you this," Atticus replied, "that man was the Original Chief of the Gravekeeper's Gang, he was the one who bestowed the title of Chief on David before he left."

Mr. Grave chuckled to himself. "Ah, those were good times. I miss those days when I ran the Gravekeeper's: making those business deals, long hours, wiping the Machine Gang off the face of the Earth."

The rest of the group had nervous smiles on their faces to how calmly he could state that; obviously this was the previous Chief to the Gravekeeper's. "But back to why I am here, where is David?"

Atticus shined to the opportunity, raising his hand wildly. "I'll take you to him!"

The two left as Edgar had that sinister grin on his face looking at the Assailant. "Huh, what you did was a bit, out of the ordinary Kimberly."

Her face quickly became a deep shade of red; looking away she pressed her index fingers together. "I-It's the d-duty of a-an Assailant t-to look over t-the wellbeing..."

"You like him, I knew it!" Edgar blurted, causing the nervous young girl to collapse on the ground.

"You know Edgar, you didn't need to do that to the poor girl," Jasmine whined, walking over to make sure the girl was ok.

But Edgar then looked over at the duelist by his side, where his eyes glowed red and Jaden was a bit nervous. "I-I, will be going now."

Slowly he started to walk out of that ward, as if not wanting to disturb the resting beast in this cave.

* * *

But as Jaden walked down those vacant halls, he looked at the Neo-Spacians in his hand. He was the one chosen by them to save the world and stop the Surge of Light once and for all; but with all that's happened, all the problems he has caused, was he really up to it?

"But I don't hate the Hero Gang," Jaden remembered what David said to him, "I just hate you. The Hero Gang members train hard in both their dueling and their studies, taking their position seriously. Earning the respect of the people around them and protecting the innocent from the gang activity that goes on everyday. But your actions and your lack of caring just defiles everything they stand for. I can not let that pass."

That just made this duelist think harder, was he really worthy to even use these cards?

* * *

David relaxed in his office; the darkness disappeared to the light of the television he watched. It was a commercial on a popular candy called Starboosts on a new flavor called Berries and Cream.

There, after the two teens discussed about the candy in the vacancy of that train station, a strange third person came on and sung a ridiculous song. But after he finished, the two boys started to beat the living snot out of the third boy from hitting him in the stomach to kicking him on the ground. David couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

There, Alexis walked into the room, the first thing she did was turn on the light before she walked up to his desk. David rubbed his eyes. "I see you like the improved commercial we did to the company that just merged with us."

He nodded. "Oh yes, it is much better than before," turning off the television to direct his full attention on the Chief of Duel Academy, seeing that icy smirk grace her thin lips, "I'm going to guess you have good news."

She placed the files she had by her side on his desk. "Here are all of the companies that have now joined with our Organization. According to the Curses we now control twenty percent of the companies around the world; your plan is quickly becoming a reality."

His grin started to become darker, resting his chin on his intertwined fingers. "Well, humans are an easily frightened species, just the mention of an army and their already cowering at our feet," he couldn't help but let out a chuckle, "the simple strategies always seem to work the best."

The ringing of his phone ceased their conversation, where the Head Chief hit speaker so the two could both hear the discussion. "Head Chief David speaking."

"The Obelisk Blue Atticus is approaching the Dorm," the voice of Guard 12's filled the office, his tone sounding overconfident as if he was already planning to send them away, by force, if necessary, "he is also with someone older in a business suit; he is the same person we spotted coming out of the helicopter that landed earlier. What would you like for us to do?"

David's eyes narrowed, re-looking over the report the Spies sent him earlier that day: a teenage girl and an early twenties man came out of one of the Organization's helicopters. Then he looked over the pictures, to see that not only his Assailant from Duel City Academy came here without clearance first, bit who she brought with him just made him completely speechless.

"My Chief, what are your orders?" the Guard asked, that confidents of his voice replace with shaky questioning.

"Let them in," David answered as quickly as the Guard finished, "keep them in the second business room until my arrival. Treat the older man as a guest, but," his tone became darker, "if Atticus shows any restraint, do as you see fit."

The Guard exhaled, feeling a chance to have some extra fun slip through his fingers. "Understood, my Chief."

There, the phone disconnected. Chief David looked back up at his female chief. "Hopefully you don't mind if your brother is given a different treatment?"

But she just smirked, cracking each one of her fingers. "Would you mind if I could be the one to give it to him? I've been wanting to for such a long time."

With a simple shake of his head, her face scowled at him. "You have to remember Miss. Rhodes, you are a Chief." He backed his chair away from his desk, stretching his legs and walked up to the teen, still having to look up to the tall Queen of Duel Academy. "With that rank you can't be seen doing such actions, even though hearing what you did to that idiot made me smile, don't let that slip again."

She rubbed her left hand over her right fist, the memory of delivering that blow to the side of Jaden's face could only make her smile; but even though she smiled, she couldn't help but feel a tight knot in her throat, she started to wonder why she would feel anything of the sort towards a moron like him.

She coughed a few times to get that feeling out. "I understand, my Chief."

He started to head out as she followed by his left. "But for now, I must greet our guest."

* * *

As the two sat in that Business Room of the Gravekeeper's Dorm; even with being with someone he admired completely, Atticus couldn't think of a single to ask him. How not only was he was a success since he was in his early teens but he hasn't slowed down at all even being in his early twenties, not only second in-line to run Industrial Illusions at a young age but a top duelist, beating the legendary The D after ten years with barely a scratch on his life points.

He looked next to him at one of his idols to see only that serious expression still on his face; he knew that Mr. Grave didn't come here to relax but he could somehow ease up, looking so stiff it seem to be as if a meteor could hit him where he sat the rock would split in two.

But before he could ask the man anything, the door opened where Chief David walked in with two of his Assailants by his side. "Sorry for the wait," the Chief announced, holding out his hands where Mr. Grave stood up to shake his in return.

"No problem," Mr. Grave replied; both of those business men expressing the same poker face; this was defiantly the key in any meeting. But then Mr. Grave smiled at the young man. "It has been too long, hasn't it Mr. Sepulcher?"

The same grin crept across the Chief's face. "It has."

They broke their handshake as David took his seat on the other side of the long rectangle table. "So, what brings you to this Island?"

"A personal favor," was his only answer, not wanting to dwell on a pointless conversation, "but I've also heard of this Project Terraforming of yours, what exactly are you up to?"

"It's pretty simple, I'm merging the world into one by monopolizing every business into the Gravekeeper's Organization," David also got straight to the point, "soon even Industrial Illusions will become part of this Organization; you can once again become a Chief."

He did like the sound of that, missing the times of his youth back in his home city. "I would love nothing more to be a Chief once again, but times change," he rested his chin on his intertwined fingers, similar to how David was as well, "do you truly believe that this plan will work?"

David nodded. "Yes, soon a new age of mankind will come; just in four days twenty percent of the world's businesses have fallen under this Organization's control. It's only a matter of time now till this Organization rules the world, so to speak."

Mr. Grave's eyes narrowed, knowing that this boy would out pass what he was able to do with the Gravekeeper's, but he would have never had guessed he would pull it this far. "I must admit, I am impressed what you have been able to do with the Gravekeeper's; but it seems to me that you are becoming corrupted by the power."

"Not at all," David stated calmly, "I'm just putting the power to good use; the wellbeing of the Gravekeeper's and its members are still my top priority."

"Then where is your Duel Spirit?" Mr. Grave pointed out, the twitch in David's eyes gave him away, "That is, unless you aren't the real Chief."

Before David replied to that, he sent his Assailants out of the room. Once the door closed, the look in his eyes grew darker. "So, you figured it out?"

"Surge of Light I'm guessing, using my predecessors memories can only get you so far; do you really think this plan of your will work?" talking like a true businessman, he only focused on the true point of the matter then personal feelings; even though deep down he was hoping that Mr. Sepulcher was still there and alright.

"Well my previous body was too weak and if David didn't give him a pat goodbye I wouldn't have this great new life," the Surge sneered, "but unlike my previous body, I slowly grew, learning all of his business skills to this junk about loyalty trumping mind control. But soon the world will be under my control and I will bring forth a new age of light."

Mr. Grave slammed his palms on the desk to stand up, but it didn't shake the Chief who continued to wear a cocky grin. "I can't stand here and allow you to corrupt the Gravekeeper's," he pulled up his briefcase onto the table, opening it to reveal paperwork and electronic devises, but he moved that up to reveal a hidden compartment that held his Duel Disk and Deck. "So I will Duel you! If I win you will release control of my Predecessors."

The Surge of Light nodded in reply. "But if I win, Industrial Illusions becomes part of the Gravekeeper's Organization."

Mr. Grave hated that smug grin that parasite was giving him; how he was using his old friend's memories and body to corrupt the Gravekeeper's like this, but he had to do all he could to get rid of that thing. "Give me a few minutes; I have to make a quick phone-call before I can agree to that."

The Surge nodded; because soon with the funding from Industrial Illusions he knew that his project will be coming a lot sooner then expected.

To Be Continued

I know I kind of skipped Nicole's duel with Jaden but I'm trying to finish this up. If you want me to add the duel I'll see what I can do. Read and Review.


	29. Duel of the Chiefs

Chapter 29: Duel of the Chiefs

Alexis looked over the paperwork that was piled onto her desk, but what David said before was true, it was getting easier to do. She now knew where to look in the endless sea of letters that graced each page.

It also helped after she bought the stamp customized with her initials, no more writer's cramp from signing her name over and over again. She also didn't seemed to get tired as easily as before, even able to get through what seemed like a mountain of paperwork in just an hour or two. If it wasn't for David's encouragement she probably would have given up after the first week.

So if it wasn't the paperwork, why did her throat feel like it was twisting in a knot, not even the glass of water she had next to her was doing anything about it. All she knew is that it started when her Chief made a comment about that lazy slacker Jaden.

But, just remembering that idiot somehow made her chest feel slightly warm. Shaking it off, knowing there was no possible way she could have any feelings towards a complete moron like him, maybe just a side effect of her recent diet.

However, the more she thought about it the more it puzzled her, why would she feel anything else besides pity for an incompetent duelist like him. Her hand started to twitch, which she grabbed on tightly to try to make it stop.

She drank the rest of her water and shook it off, needing to focus on her work above anything else.

* * *

"I'm sorry to bring this up on you, Mr. Pegasus," Mr. Grave stated with great concern, "I just have to do everything I can to save an old associate of mine." 

"Ah the old Gravekeeper's Cree," Pegasus replied with his usual cheerful attitude, "don't worry about it. Besides, you either fix your old friend or Industrial Illusions combines with the Gravekeeper's and becomes even more powerful, I see it as a win-win."

Chucking a bit to how calm his boss was too all this. "Thank you, Mr. Pegasus, I won't let you down."

He closed his cell phone and re-entered the room, greeted by his possessed friend, gleefully awaiting his reply. "The deal is made, are you ready to duel?"

David raised his left arm, all ready with a duel disk and equipped with his deck. "Let this business meeting of ours commence."

Before him, the large wooden tabled sunk into the floor and the lights turned into holographic enhancers. "I still stand by the old ways of Duel City, all business deals done through a duel; you have to admit this is so much better then the tents you used to use."

Mr. Grave nodded, activating his duel disk. "Yes, but I must ask you one question before the match starts; was it you that started the large step for the Gravekeeper's to where you are piggy backing on David's memories or did you do all of this yourself?"

The Surge of Light grinded its teeth to that comment, annoyed being profiled as nothing more then a common parasite. "True it was you underling that started it, but it was I that has been building it up ever since," he activated his duel disk, "so let's get this meeting started already."

They drew their five cards. "Let's duel!" they announced, their life points set at 4000 each.

"Well, with Gravekeeper's ruling, you get to decide who goes first," the Surge announced, looking over the cards he drew with a smirk of delight growing on his face.

"I will go first," Mr. Grave drew his sixth card, "and I will start off this match with the Field Spell Card Necrovalley."

The business room completely changed to that of a vast desert, starting off the match with a Gravekeeper's trump card. "Then I will play one monster face down and two spells or traps face down where I end my turn."

"Starting off so serious, Mr. Grave; I'm also going to guess your not going to be playing around," the Surge stated, drawing his sixth card.

"If you want my scholar or Industrial Illusions, I won't be holding back."

The Surge chuckled to this statement. "David is definitely your disciple; he said the same thing when I tried to take control of the Gravekeeper's for the Society of Light. But now I will counter your little plan with the spell card, Nobleman of the Crossout."

Mr. Grave's eyes glared though those thin glasses of his. "Now I know for sure you aren't David, he would never use a spell that would remove a monster from play," but then he grinned, "Good thing I already planed ahead for that. Activating the Quick-Play spell card Book of Taiyou, flipping my monster into face-up attack!"

With that spell card, his monster was revealed to be Gravekeeper's Spy; a card if that it was hit by that spell card would have seriously damaged both of their decks. But the spell had no effect now that it was face up. "But now that it is face up, its effect also activates, letting me summon another Gravekeeper to the field."

Taking out his deck, he looked through it till he found the one he was looking for. "Now I will summon, Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier in attack Mode," and with that, the creature was summoned with 1500 attack, but rose to 2000 with the help of the field.

"Not only defending your monster but using its effect as well; I can see how you beat The D. But don't think I'm finished as I summon my own Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier!"

Another Spear Soldier was summoned to the field, gaining the same bonus from the field. "Now, attack Spy with Spear Assault!"

The humanoid monster charged with full force. "I have another counter; I activate my Quick-Play spell card, Book of Moon; flipping back down my Spy!"

His monster was protected, just in time as the spear attacked his card. It flipped it to reveal its 2500 defense power, pushing back the monster's attack as well as dropping the Surge down to 3500 life points. "But now because you flipped my Spy again, I get to summon another Gravekeeper; and I choose, Gravekeeper's Curse in attack mode."

The Gravekeeper was summoned to the field; raising to 1300 because of the field. "But his effect kicks in, you lose another 500 life points."

The parasite dropped down to 3000, not to mention realized how skilled Mr. Grave is. Not only was he able to set up a strong defense but even during his opponents turn he took away 1000 life points and summoned two more monsters to his field; he might actually lose this match if he isn't more careful. "I will end my turn with two face downs."

* * *

Jaden relaxed on his bed, the room completely dark since he didn't feel the need to turn on the lights. Feeling like he was completely useless, starting to even wonder how he was able to defeat the three Sacred Beasts last year, probably just relying completely on luck is all he is good for. 

He was the cause for Alexis's actions, he couldn't get anything right, and being too laid back just made everyone irritated at him. With the Gravekeeper's Organization in power, people like him just didn't seem to fit in this world anymore: their strict, rule abiding, business people, nothing like he is at all.

He even looked at one of the Gravekeeper's brochures; every one of those Divisions he just couldn't fit in even if he did past the test. Even his best friends could fit in easily with that Organization, was he really just a waste of space now.

But worse of all, because of his laid back attitude he was so dense to realize Alexis's feelings; even after he started to realize his feelings for her he completely avoided her, which in turn caused her to suffer and turn into the cold person she is now.

However this might be just the thing he needed to see, maybe he had to stop this laid back attitude of his, actually focus on his school work and what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.

Even though he knew he had to take down the Surge of Light, but Mr. Grave will probably take care of that; yet being a Gravekeeper he defiantly could get his life straightened out.

Jaden walked over to his Ra Dorm desk, which was of much better quality then the ones back in Slifer but he still missed his cockroach infested dorm. But as he opened the drunk draw of the desk, he saw something he completely forgot about; that Shadow Charm medallion he got from the Chief of the Gravekeeper's himself when he was fighting the Shadow Riders last year.

Pulling it out by the rope, it slowly rocked back and forth in his view, that red jewel still shinning in the middle of it.

He remembered what the Chief said after their battle, how he was a great duelist and that was back when dueling to him was nothing but fun, even in a Shadow Game. But ever since that match with David he has never completely felt like his old self, what was wrong with him?

He then put the medallion around his neck, where the last Duel Spirit he ever expected to see again greeted him. "W-What are you doing here?" Jaden collapsed on the floor in shock.

"So it looks like you are just as I thought when I first met you last year," the Chief's harsh words rang through Jaden's ears, "a pathetic excuse, I should have had you buried along with your friends."

Jaden looked away; this only infuriated the Chief of those who protect the grave. "What, no cleaver comeback, no irritating overconfidence; even with all of these duel spirits you consider friends backing you up?"

He completely forgot, looking around his room to see all of his E-Heroes, Neo-Spacians and his Winged Kuriboh all looked worried at their friend. "So your going to make all of their faith in you be a complete waste, how disgraceful!"

"Am I really," Jaden finally spoke up, "even good enough to use these cards?"

This only infuriated the Chief even more. "I still can't believe I'm talking to the same duelist that defeated me last year; it is making me sick just looking at your pathetic moping."

"I've caused more pain with my careless lifestyle then happiness. Not to mention after Mr. Grave beats that Surge of Light I need to focus more on what I want to do with the rest of my life."

"Don't count the chickens before they hatch," the Chief's voice boomed, "the power of the Light is a lot stronger then intentionally realized; even my Necrovalley is feeling its power. For how strong Mr. Grave is I doubt he will defeat this creature."

"So you think I can?" Jaden snapped back, slamming his fist against the white wooden wall; a bit harder then he realized, feeling the aftermath on his knuckles.

"I believe you had a chance, but if your going to mope in your own misery your nothing but a waste of space. When you are ready to face your problems I will chat with you again," and with that, he vanished.

* * *

The Match between the duelists was almost finished, Mr. Grave still had all of his life points, Necrovalley, a Curse, Spear Soldier, Chief, Spy in defense, and an Assailant. The only drawback is that he had one card in his hand and no spells and traps on the field. 

But what was really annoying him is that the Surge was using a Gravekeeper's Achilles Heel, using Macro Cosmos to send monster to the Remove from Play instead of the graveyard and The Dark Door; especially with him only having 700 life points, 3 cards in his hand and a mysterious face down card he has had since the beginning of the duel.

The Surge drew his card, and smirked. "I play 1 monster face down and end my turn."

Mr. Grave drew his card, a Rite of Spirits Trap; a card that as long as Macro Cosmos was on the field made it completely useless. "Then I will have my Gravekeeper's Chief attack your defense card."

This might look familiar, I flip Gravekeeper's Spy and with 2500 defense, causing Mr. Grave's life points to drop to 3900. "Now I use its effect, summoning another Gravekeeper's Spy in defense."

"Using the Gravekeeper's like a wall is unforgivable, its no better then sacrificing your own men for a selfish cause," Mr. Grave's infuriated tone boomed.

Yet the Surge only chuckled. "As long as I win I could care less, the victory is more important then the lives sacrificed to obtain it."

Not only was Mr. Grave completely appalled by what the Surge said, but it was even worse that it was making David say such horrendous things. A true Chief of the Gravekeeper's would never say such bile. "Then go already, I will make you regret ever saying such vulgar remarks!"

The Surge drew his fourth card. "Well, it looks like I'm going to have to postpone that lesson; because I start off with Pot of Greed, drawing two more cards."

Discarding that card he drew till he had 5 cards in his hand. "Now I sacrifice one of my Spies to summon, Mobius the Frost Monarch!"

In place of Spellcaster, a large warrior in an aqua silver armor was summoned bearing 2400 attack points. "Now his effect kicks in, were I can destroy up to 2 spell or traps on the field, and I will destroy Necrovalley and my Dark Door!"

Just then, the field returned to normal as Mr. Grave was forced to remove his field card. "Now I play the spell card, Corruption Cell "A", placing an A-Counter on your Gravekeeper's Chief."

With that Spell, a strange growth appeared on the Chief's chest. "Now I bet you are wondering what my face down card is, well it's a trap called, Brainwashing Beam, now a monster with an A-Counter on it falls under my control!"

The growth on Gravekeeper's Chief started to throb at a rapid pace just as the Gravekeeper's eyes glowed red, appearing on the Surge's side. "You should know the highest sin a Gravekeeper can do in a duel, Surge of Light!"

"Ah yes," the Surge chuckled, "using cards that take control of an opponent's monster, it's basically forcing someone to do something they don't want to do, just like how the Gang doesn't force people to become its members."

"You will pay for this," Mr. Grave stated through grinding teeth.

"But not now, because now I activate Lightning Vortex, discarding this worthless Curse to destroy all of your monsters."

With that discard, a lightning bolt destroyed all of the Gravekeeper's, leaving Mr. Grave completely defenseless. "You are nothing more then a Power Duelist, relying on the power of each strong card then combining strategies; you have no right to call yourself Chief of the Gravekeeper's."

"True, but its time for your defeat; Chief and Mobius, attack him and destroy the rest of his life points!"

With that final command, both monsters attacked and depleted the rest of Mr. Grave's life points. "Welcome back to the Gravekeeper's, Mr. Grave."

To Be Continued

Will Jaden break out of this depression, will he stop the Surge of Light, and will he break Alexis's out of this cold new personality of hers? Only time, and a lot of reviews, will tell.


	30. Snap out of it

Chapter 30: Snap out of it

It was a warm summer day ten years ago in Duel City, the young Kimberly Mausoleum was looking at her first pack of duel cards that her parents just bought for her fifth birthday party.

She was the happiest she had ever been, waiting for this day for so long when she can finally start learning the game of Duel Monsters. Eagerly ripping open that package she looked through that set of cards; there was enough there to make a makeshift deck but one particular card caught her eyes, holding the Gravekeeper's Assailant in her tiny little hands.

Her eyes shined like jewels through those glasses at this one card; not only was it a female card but it was the strongest of the four stared Gravekeeper's, with the right effect it could even defeat a Chief; for a young frail girl like herself this card showed that she could do anything if she put her mind to it.

With the next day she met with her two friends Edgar and David in the park's jungle gym, they already having their decks for about a year they were more then egger to help her with her deck structure, even giving a few of their spare cards to help, especially since David already had a Gravekeeper's deck of his own and she wanting to base her monsters around her Assailant; even though Edgar would try to convince her that a few Dragon cards couldn't hurt she stuck with the Gravekeeper's.

But just as she completed her deck, an event that should have been of great joy, three teens from the Hero Gang made their way up to them. These three being pretty infamous around this area, being so corrupt it seemed that they would be more in-place as Fiend Gang members, but so far there had been no physical evidence on them which is why they were able to continue to do what they did.

"Hey there squirts," the one in the middle smugly stated, obviously the leader of this group, "what are you up to?"

Kimberly noticed how defensively her friends were getting around them, standing in front of her, like if protecting her from them. "What do you three want?" Edgar, letting his sadistic personality take over for this discussion, his eyes already starting to flash red.

The leader chuckled. "We are here to protect the children from the other gang activity," he was obviously lying, they knew he could care less about the people's safety, "but for us to do a good job, we will need for you three to pay the Card Tax."

The two others with this guy cracked their knuckles, no didn't seemed to be an answer the children could use. "So pay up, a rare card between the three of you."

There wasn't much they could do with these teens towering over them, so they looked through their cards outside their decks, Edgar was never going to let them find out he has a Red Eyes Black Dragon. But where Edgar gave one David handed them two. "This is for me and her, so go away."

The three Heroes looked over the cards, pocketing them. "Sorry, but she still has to pay for her own. We wouldn't want anything 'bad' to happen to such a cutie."

Kimberly started to shake as the two others started to tower over her, holding her newly made deck close to her chest. Her friends tried to stop them but they were two small and easily pushed aside, pulling the deck out of her little fingers. "Hey, look what we got here," one of the lackeys called out, revealing the contents of her deck.

"It looks like we have a future Gravekeeper here," he chuckled, her friends once again trying to protect her, "now as proud Heroes we can't let that happen; we will have to teach her a lesson."

"The rules clearly state that Heroes have no right to get involved with a persons decision in what gang they want to join!" David informed.

But the three teens chuckled. "We have been meaning to change that; we will have to use her as an example."

However, David only smirked to that comment. "No wonder the Gravekeeper's are a nobler Gang then Heroes, Gravekeeper's wouldn't allow their members to be scum like you."

That comment seemed to hit a nerve on this Hero, not caring that this kid was nine years younger them him it didn't stop him from kicking David aside, where Kimberly rushed to his side. "We are going to have to teach you again about using that smart mouth of yours, aren't we David?"

Holding his arms tightly around his stomach, Kimberly helped him back on his feet. "Having to use fist instead of words, you are pathetic. Now give Kimberly back her deck! If you even consider yourself a duelist you should know how much a deck means to its owner."

The children watched how they handled her deck, holding it out but before they could grab it they let go, letting the cards fall all over the ground. "Opps," the leader said smugly, even stepping on a few to the children's horror. "Oh I'm so sorry."

Kimberly couldn't hold herself back, pushing her friends away just to hope and rescue her cards; something that she and her friends built together. Yet they used this opportunity to grab the young girl. "So, anything you have to say before your punished?"

"No, but we do," the teens seemed to be horrified when they heard that voice, turning to see none other then the leader of the Hero Gang with at least ten other members by his side, "and it looks like you and your friends aren't going to get away with something like this. Not only harassing the kids but what you did to her deck was unforgivable. So drop her and come with us peacefully."

The three were shocked, wondering how they could have found out about this. That was, until they looked over at David, seeing him holding up a cell phone. Now they didn't seem to have any other choice, placing Kimberly back on the ground; a few took them away while some helped Kimberly pick up her cards.

The leader took the Card Tax from the delinquents and personally handed them back to Edgar and David. "I'm sorry for anything they have done, they will be dealt with."

The young children took back their cards, where Kimberly joined back with them, holding her deck tightly to her chest. "Just make sure there isn't any more like them littering your Gang," David commented, making sure his cards were alright.

"For being so young you are good to your friends, David," the Hero Gang Leader commented, "I wish you would reconsider and join the Heroes in the future."

David shook his head. "I am and will always be for the Gravekeeper's."

"Then I wish you luck in the future," he signaled his members off.

* * *

There, Kimberly woke up back to the real time, her eyes adjusted to the darkness but she rubbed them with her index finger and thumb. She remembered that was the day she started to have an attraction towards her dear friend David. Not only standing up for her, helping her with her deck, but he also tried to protect her; even though she knew he probably only did it because it was the right thing to do she still cherished what he did. 

She was hoping she could at least help him out of this strange occurrence, knowing something was wrong with his personality for awhile now. She knew even though she herself was a good duelist she was no where near as good as David, hoping that Mr. Grave could have snapped him out of it; but sadly that planned backfired three days ago.

She started to wonder, was there anyway to bring back the David she cared so much about?

* * *

But just like the young Assailant, Jaden wasn't getting a good night sleep either; tossing and turning in that dark vacant room. Still feeling like all that has gone wrong was somehow his fault, his laid back attitude being more of a burden to his friends. 

Finally just sitting up, knowing he wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon. He got out of bed and shuffled his feet over to his desk. Looking at his stack of school books and blew the thick layer of dust that covered them, coughing a bit as the dust got into the air around him.

Sounding like the door to a haunted house, the book creaked as he opened the cover. But even though he wasn't tired enough to sleep he was defiantly too tired to read. So he walked back over to his bed, falling face first into his pillow.

He hated this feeling in the pit of his stomach, it was far worse then getting the green baloney sandwich on Sandwich Day. He felt so hopeless, useless, wondering if his entire life was just bordering on acceptable because he won a few duels.

* * *

Jaden just slept through his school day, unable to sleep that last night. Finally he was able to get his eyes closed; just to have the ending school bell shocked him right out of it. 

"Hey Jay," his good friend Syrus shook him up, "you don't look so good."

He rubbed his eyes. "Having been sleeping very well buddy, just a good night sleep and I will be back to normal."

"The nurse will probably have something that will help. Let's head there right now."

Jaden agreed to this idea, but were interrupted by the announcement from Chancellor Sheppard. "Alright today we have the first match of the fifth round; Jaden Yuki from our own prestige academy will be facing off against Fredi Heat of AD Tech Duel Academy!"

"This will be a short match," they could hear a dark voice behind them comment, looking to see Fredi's fire red and ice blue eyes glaring down at him; this glare alone made Syrus shiver.

"What are you talking about?" Jaden asked; rubbing his lead weighted eye lids.

Fredi turned his back to the Duel Academy student, as if disgusted to even look at him. "Do I even need to explain, you're in no condition to walk let alone duel; not to mention how you ran away before we could duel in the first round. I will make sure to slaughter your life points very quickly, I don't like facing off against weak duelists."

Yet before letting Jaden have a comeback, he already started to walk up the stairs. "Don't worry, Jaden; you will show him how you're the best duelist at Duel Academy; even though Fredi is the best at his school."

"Well even if Jaden was at his full strength this would be a difficult match," Bastian made his way over, "Fredi is stated to be the new number one duelist in the Pro League as soon as he graduates from AD Tech Academy, using a unique deck designed by Pegasus himself after Fredi suggested the ideas of his own creation, which focus more on effects then attack."

"Well I know Jay will defeat it with is Hero Deck, right?" he patted his good friend on the back, except he wasn't replied with as much enthusiasm."

"Yeah," he yawned, "I will defiantly win this match."

* * *

The stadium was filled to watch this match, even Alexis was watching it from her personal booth with Chief David by her side. She still continued to feel strange though, originally she thought to come just to see this match to watch Jaden's downfall, but was there another reason? 

She looked over at her Chief, sitting patiently for the match to start. "My Chief," she broke the silence, "I thought you were busy all day after class."

He looked up at her. "Well, these matches do come out of the blue, and it was nothing more then looking over the finalized Blue Rose Project. I'll get right to it right after this match; by how the idiot looks I believe it to be a short one."

She chuckled a little. "True, the moron is in no shape to even give a good match."

But that strange feeling was inside her once again, did she want that incompetent duelist to win?

The stadium started to quiet down along with the lights, where the spotlight shinned on Dr. Crowler. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the first match of the fifth round. We will have the top student from AD Tech Duel Academy, Fredi Heat!"

On his left, Fredi walked up onto the platform, his school cheering him on the loudest where he just seemed to be annoyed by it; rubbing his head like a sudden migraine just came on.

"Now the other, not one of our brightest but sadly one of our best duelists, let's give a hand for Duel Academy's Duelist, Jaden someone!"

Jaden stumbled onto the platform; even the applause he received didn't stop him from letting out a yawn. He knew he dueled better when tired but he was more then tired at the moment.

"Now get your decks shuffled so we can start off this match," the doctor informed, seeing the two walking across the platform.

Accepting each other's decks, Fredi wouldn't stop looking down at his opponent, glaring at him with those multicolored eyes of his. Jaden even started to feel like his bones were starting to freeze from his glare.

After they finished shuffling, they returned the decks to their owners before heading back to their sides. "Ready... and begin!"

"Let's duel!" the two called out, setting their life points at 4000.

"I'll go first," Fredi stated harshly, but after drawing added, "I need to end this pathetic excuse for a duel as soon as possible, I hate wasting my time."

Jaden was taken back by this. "What do you mean by pathetic?"

His cold eyes turned directly at Jaden, making him flitch. "You wasted my time last time we were supposed to have a match; it was either you were a cowered or it was because of your own sad excuse for a life yet I truly don't care; so make a better use for yourself and just surrender so I can leave."

This duelist from AD Tech Duel Academy wasn't showing Jaden any remorse, in actions or tone. This student probably wouldn't even flinch if he died right before his eyes. But maybe he was right, would he be of better use and just surrender, there was no way he could win like this.

Fredi glared daggers at his opponent, holding his six cards in his hands however waiting for Jaden's answer. Then as he saw Jaden's hand move to his deck, he was completely appalled. "You are truly pathetic, aren't you?!"

Jaden flinch again from this teen, yet Fredi continued. "You are just going to give up without a fight, and you call yourself a duelist?"

Jaden's hand, which was reaching for his deck, turned into a fist. "Oh yeah, if you think you are so good, then throw down!"

Fredi glared at this teen for a few more seconds, still seeing this teen as weak, but turned his attention back to his hand. Seeing that he was going to finally know if Jaden was the challenge he had been looking for to test out his deck. Hearing the rumors that he was a talented duelist but what he saw before him was nothing more then trash.

"Well for my first move, I will set up the field; activating my Field Spell, The EARTH Organization!" Where after he exclaimed that, a large building appeared behind him. "My Agents can't use there Manipulating abilities without authorization from their headquarters."

"Manipulating abilities?" Jaden asked.

"Let's just say my monsters have many different effects, so I will start off the match with my Agent, EARTH Agent: Red in attack mode."

Before Fredi, a humanoid monster wearing a dark blue trench coat, a blood red mask over his face and 1700 attack points. "I will then place a card face down and end my turn."

Fredi: 4000 3

Jaden: 4000 5

"My draw!" Jaden called out, his right hand shaking as he drew that card out of his deck.

Looking over his hand, he already had a good strategy to have this match on his side. "I start by playing Polymerization, fusing my Avian with my Burstinatrix to form, my Elemental Hero Flare Wingman!"

His signature monster was summoned to his side of the field, baring 2100 attack points. "Now go Wingman and take his Agent down; Skydive Scorcher!"

The Hero flew straight up into the sky, bursting into a ball of fire as he came down right on EARTH Agent: Red. Hitting him right on the target and dropping Fredi's life points to 3600. "Now that your monster was destroyed, you take the attack points right out of your life points."

Fredi wasn't fazed as Wingman stood before him, but just as it released the attack, a blood red shield protected him. "What is that?"

However Jaden's question was answered with Fredi's monster returning to the field, the shield an extent from his missing right arm. "I forgot to mention, EARTH Agent: Red's manipulating ability is blood, so he can't be killed."

Wingman flew back over to Jaden's side. "But I also should mention, when Red is injured he gains attack points; by five hundred."

Red rose up to 2200, Jaden knew that if he didn't protect his Wingman now he would just be destroyed on the next turn. "I place two cards face down and end my turn."

Fredi: 3600 3

Jaden: 4000 1

"My draw," Fredi announced, "and for this turn I will summon EARTH Agent: Specter in attack mode."

Before Fredi, another Humanoid monster appeared. He looked to be in a black butler uniform, a white face place covering his face and large silver shields on each of his forelimbs with 1500 attack points. "Now I will have EARTH Agent: Red destroy your Wingman; Blood Assault!"

Where his missing right arm was, the blood from it shot out above Jaden's monster. Long spikes came out of it, coming straight down on it."

"I activate my face down card," Jaden called out, "De-Fusion!"

Wingman then split up into the two original monsters, countering his attack. "Then I will have Agent Specter attack your Avian!"

The Agent seemed to vanish before everyone's eyes, even Avian was looking around. But it was too late as he soon found himself surrounded by the monster, each attacking him with a powerful kick in the abdomen, dropping Jaden to 3700 life points."

After the smoke cleared, Specter was back on Fredi's side of the field. "I activate my other face down card, A Hero Emerges!" he revealed the card, "now you pick a card in my hand and if it's a monster I can summon it."

Fredi saw there must be more to Jaden then meets the eye, originally thinking for him to be a complete idiot to waste most of his hand on the first turn but now sees he did it so he wouldn't have a choice after he destroyed one of Jaden's monsters. "Do I really have a choice?" he asked coldly.

"Nope," Jaden chuckled, starting to feel happy once again, "so I will summon, Elemental Hero Bladeedge!"

The golden warrior was summoned to his side of the field with 2600 attack points. "Then I will end my turn."

Fredi: 3600 3

Jaden: 3500 0

So Jaden drew his card. "I will start by replenishing my hand, playing Pot of Greed!"

The Jar was summoned to the field then it was quickly destroyed after he drew his two cards. "Now I will play, Fusion Recovery, getting back a Polymerization and a Elemental Hero from my graveyard back to my hand."

He took back his Avian and spell card then looked at the other field. He wasn't to sure what these EARTH Agent's were capable of, and he knew if he had his Bladeedge attack Agent Red it would just grow stronger. "Bladeedge, attack his EARTH Agent: Specter!"

Charging at full speed at the monster, but before it could launch the attack two other Specter's appeared before it. "What is going on now?" Jaden asked; these card's effect could drive anyone insane.

"Specter's manipulation ability is light, and from that can create illusions. Now only one of these are real, if you guess right he is destroyed, but if you guess wrong you will lose 500 life points."

Jaden looked at each one, there had to be some kind of tell to which one was the real one. But instead just went with pure blind luck, it never failed him before. "Go for the one on the right!"

Fredi couldn't believe he was right, but already had something just incase he did guess. "Well you got the right one, but now I activate my Trap Card, Specter Release!"

Revealing his trap card, Specter's silver shields fell from his limbs. "Each one of my Agents have a story behind them, Specter serves a noble family and must wear these shields to restrain his strength, but when ordered he may remove them, raising his strength by double!"

Specter's attack points rose to 3000, putting out one hand he easily stopped Bladeedge without being pushed back an inch. He then threw the metal monster up in the air, quickly appearing above him he dropped his heel right on its chest.

Bladeedge hit the ground hard, dropping Jaden by 400 life points. "I will switch Burstinatrix to defense mode and place Dandelion in defense, ending my turn."

Fredi: 3600 3

Jaden: 3100 2

After Jaden's turn ended, the shields were back on Specter, reducing his attack points back to 1500. "I draw then," Fredi announced, drawing his fourth card. No monster he would need to summon at the moment so he just went straight to his battle phase. "I will have EARTH Agent: Red attack your Burstinatrix; Blood Bullet Barrage!"

With one motion of his left arm, countless amount of red bullet shaped blood drops went right at Jaden's monster, destroying it but saving his life points. "Now, destroy his Dandelion Specter, Illusion Kick Assault!"

Six other Specters appeared, coming at each side of the small flower-headed lion, not giving it a single change from the thrashing. But from that destruction seeing two fluff balls in its place. "What are those?"

"They're my fluff tokens," Jaden replied, "they appear after my Dandelion is destroyed."

"Then I will put one card face down and end my turn," placing one card in the spell/trap zone.

Fredi: 3600 3

Jaden: 3100 2

Jaden drew his card. "I play the spell card, Graceful Charity, drawing three cards but discarding two after wards."

He drew three new cards and discard the two he already had in his hand. "I now sacrifice my two fluff tokens to summon, Elemental Hero Neos!"

The two dust balls disappeared, revealing in their place the alien hero. "Now I play the spell card, Common Soul, summoning from my deck a Neo-Spacian to join with him. And I play, Neo-Spacian Glow Moss!"

In addition to that one alien, another appeared besides him, a strange glowing humanoid one. "But now I will show you the true strength of my Neo-Spacians by using Contact Fusion. Do your stuff you two!"

Both jumped into the air, fusing into Elemental Hero Glow Neos. "Now his special ability I can destroy one card on your field, and I choose your EARTH Organization!"

Launching the energy ball from his hands right at the building, but Fredi had something else up his sleeve. "Agent Specter, you know what to do."

Specter nodded, jumping high into the air he kicked the energy ball right at the stands; scaring a few of the viewers until they realized it was only a hologram. "How is that possible?"

"As long as an EARTH Agent is on my side of the field, the EARTH Organization is completely immune, even if you were to use a another field card."

"Well that doesn't stop my Neo-Spacian from attacking; destroy Specter," Jaden ordered.

There was nothing Fredi could do except watched as with a flash of light his Agent was destroyed, dropping his life points to 2600. "I will then place one card face down and end my turn."

Fredi: 2600 3

Jaden: 3100 0

But with the end of Jaden's turn, his monster returned to the fusion deck. "That is a really bad effect, because it leaves you wide open," Fredi drew his card, "I will now have my EARTH Agent: Red attack your life points directly."

"I activate my trap, Mirror Force," he announced, revealing his face down card, "now I know your monster is immortal to battle, but you never said anything about effects."

Fredi didn't show it, but he was impressed. For a complete idiot he thought on his feet, realizing another way to take on this problem. He couldn't hold back any longer.

After his monster was destroyed, he looked at his hand. "well then I will just have to play my EARTH Agent: Material in defense mode and end my turn."

Another humanoid monster was summoned to the field, his body that of a black ancient samurai armor with a defense of 1900.

Fredi: 2600 3

Jaden: 3100 0

Jaden drew his card. "I play Elemental Hero Bubbleman in attack mode," he announced, placing his 800 attack monster on the field, "but because it is the only monster on my field it counts as a special summon, now I can draw two more cards from my deck."

Looking at his replenished hand, he smiled. "Now I will play, E N Shuffle, trading my Bubbleman for a Neo- Spacian from my deck and I choose, Neo-Spacian Grand Mole!"

In Bubbleman's place, the strange mole-like alien appeared. "I will also summon, Elemental Hero Sparkman by his side."

The electric hero was summoned by his side, ready for a fight. "Now Grand Mole, attack his EARTH Agent!"

The fur ball's head turned into a drill, rushing right after the armored monster; but instead of being destroyed, they returned to the owner's hand. "And you think my cards are annoying," Fredi commented coldly, looking at the Agent in his hand.

"And the best part is I take no damage for that effect," Jaden replied, now seeing an opening but wishing he had some card to get rid of Fredi's Field Card, "now Sparkman, attack his life points directly with Static Blast!"

"I activate my trap," Fredi finally revealing his face down card, "the Thorn less Rose!"

He revealed the card, giving more detail about it. "I can only activate this on the turn when one of my Agents are targeted by an effect that doesn't destroy them. It's effect will kick in the next turn."

"So my attack goes through," Jaden stated, having his E-Hero electrocute Fredi, dropping his life points to 1000. "I will then end my turn."

Fredi: 1000 4

Jaden: 3100 2

"Alright, time to start getting serious," Fredi announced, drawing his card, "now my Thorn less Rose activates, letting me summon EARTH Agent: Hailfire from my hand or deck to the field!"

He pulled out his deck, and summoned the half fire and ice humanoid to the field with 2400 attack points. "I will also summon EARTH Agent: Blackbelt in attack mode."

Another humanoid monster was summoned next to Hailfire; she was in a black ninja suit which only revealed her hands, blue eyes, long blond hair and bare feet; baring 1700 attack points. "Blackbelt, attack his Sparkman with Shadow Shuriken Assault!"

You can tell she was smiling through that mask, walking backwards she disappeared within her own shadow. Sparkman was looking in every direction, wondering where the attack was going to come from.

His question was answered as the shurikens came from every direction; destroying him and leaving Jaden wide open with 3000 life points. "Now Hailfire, attack his life points direction with a hailstorm!"

Jaden had no way of defending himself, bombarded the Hero Duelist with baseball sided hail and dropping his life points to 600. "I will end my turn after that, and as long as my Blackbelt is on the field, any normal or tribute summoning will succumb to summing sickness."

Fredi: 1000 4

Jaden: 600 2

Jaden wasn't too sure of situation; normally he would feel like the next card he would draw would have him claiming victory. But at this moment he wasn't sure, this strong depression still on him like a heavy coat; still wondering if he should draw or just place his hand over his deck and surrender.

He then looked up, to see Alexis looking down at him, her eyes where even colder then his opponents; why couldn't he just have faced her; instead he just kept running away.

Fredi could see the look on Jaden's face, probably looking at that Chief of the Gravekeeper's behind him; they once offered him a Chief position back at his area, but he turned it down, not wanting to have anything to do with the Gravekeeper's.

Yet how this duelist acting in front of him, there was no way they would have let him even try out for a position. So what else would he have with to do with her?

An idea quickly popped into his head, groaned at the thought that he knew he was right. "Tell me, is she dead?"

Jaden didn't understand what he was talking about, but Fredi continued. "Tell me, is the person you screwed up to dead?"

His hands shook, he never thought of it like that; shaking his head in reply.

"Then that means you can still fix what ever moronic thing you did, so now focus on the duel so I can finish you off and move onto the next round."

Jaden nodded, drawing his third card; in some strange way Fredi actually helped him, in his own way, feeling like that depression somehow disappeared. Even though he screwed up he still had a chance to make everything right. "Thanks for the pep talk, Fredi."

"Don't mention it," Fredi replied harshly, sending a shiver through the Hero, "I mean it."

Chuckling nervously, Jaden returned his attention back to his hand. "Well I'm bringing back an old friend, say hello to Elemental Hero Bubbleman!"

Once again, the water based hero was summoned to the field, ready to attack with its 800 points. "But since it is the only monster on my side of the field, I can draw two more cards from my deck!"

Pulling out the two other cards, that cocky energetic smiled graced the teen once again. "Well, this was a great match; I hope we can duel again."

"So you think you can defeat me this turn, did you forget my Blackbelt's special ability?" Fredi asked, watching as his Agent threw a few shurikens at Bubbleman, missing him but hitting his shadow, paralyzing him where he stood.

"Nope, I didn't forget about that, because I'm also playing, Fake Hero, letting me special summon another Hero from my hand, and I play Elemental Hero Clayman in attack mode!"

The monster was summoned to the field, but because it was special summoned Blackbelt's ability didn't activate. "Just as I thought," Jaden grinned, "now I will play my spell card, Miracle Fusion, removing from play Elemental Hero Avian, Burstinatrix, Bubbleman and Clayman to summon Elemental Hero Electrum!"

The four Heroes combined their powers to make the ultimate hero, standing before Jaden surrounded by light and 2900 attack points. "Its first effect, we bring back every card that was removed from play and put it back into our decks."

Fredi didn't have any cards out of play, so he watched as Jaden returned his cards and shuffled his deck. "Now his second ability, gaining 300 attack points for each monster that has an attribute of Water, Wind, Fire, or Earth. Now your EARTH Agent: Hailfire is an interesting monster, having both Fire and Water Attribute, so it gains 600 extra attack."

Electrum rose up to 3500. "Now Electrum, attack his EARTH Agent: Hailfire, end this duel!"

Forming a large ball of light, he shot the energy right at the EARTH Agent, destroying him and reducing Fredi's life points to 0

Fredi: 0

Jaden: 600

"Oh yeah, that's how you throw down!" Jaden couldn't help but exclaim with joy, once and for all feeling like his old self.

"At least you weren't completely pathetic," Fredi replied coldly, already walking off the platform.

"Hey come on, Fredi," Jaden's voice made him wish he was listening to nails on a chalkboard, "when do you want to have a rematch, I'm up for a throw down anytime!"

However Fredi didn't reply; only continued to walk out of the stadium.

"The winner of the first match to the fifth round: Jaden Yuki of Duel Academy!" Dr. Crowler announced, getting a cheer from the audience.

Yet Jaden's attention focused on Alexis, he knew what he had to do next; get her back to normal.

To Be Continued.

You can only guess what the next chapter is going to be. Read and review.


	31. Jaden VS Alexis

Chapter 31: Jaden VS Alexis

A few days earlier, Fredi kept his appointment with the Head Chief of the Gravekeeper's; David wanted to talk to the duelist about a job position, but even though Fredi didn't really care about the Organization he had time to waste.

He offered Fredi a Chief position for when he was to head back to his city once the tournament ended, stating how his ability to stay focused under immense pressure and never let his emotions inflict on how he made a decision would make him a perfect Chief, not to mention a glare that would even make his body feel cold.

The Head Chief was a bit shocked from hearing his answer. "And here I thought you would be more then willing to join the Gravekeeper's, didn't you go straight to Pegasus after he made those Hero cards and insist that a group of heroes that weren't vigilantes be created."

"Yes I was," Fredi replied in his normal cold tone, cracking his knuckles with no sign of respect for the person sitting in front of him, "but I have no interest in a Chief's position at the moment, paperwork has never been my strong suit."

David rested his chin on his intertwined fingers. "Very well, I will keep the job open for you till the end of this Tournament; you can change your mind by then if you want."

Not wanting to get into another discussion, Fredi stood up. "But Mr. Heat," the Chief's voice caused Fredi to stop for the moment, "wasn't it you who promised your little sister on her death bed that you will become a great success; so why are you..."

But the head of the Gravekeeper's Organization was cut off when Fredi slammed his fist on that oak table; with enough force it split the table in two. The Assailants were readying themselves to protect their Chief, but he waved them off.

Fredi's cold eyes even caused David to shiver; this was a teen no one wanted to get on his bad side. "You are to leave my little sister out of this, or you will severely regret it."

With that he turned his back on the Chief, but not before mentioning. "Besides, I doubt this Organization will last much longer."

David chuckled a little to hearing that thought. "Oh, what makes you say that Mr. Heat?

But Fredi didn't reply and just simply let himself out; leaving the Chief something he hated being, curious.

* * *

In the present day, Jaden was doing something no one would have ever believed unless they saw it with their own eyes; in his room he was... studying. Looking over the books, his deck and his notes; well they were Bastian's notes translated so he could understand them.

The gang was shocked when they noticed him in the library the day after his duel with Fredi, looking up anything that had to do with deck structure to the theory of fusion. Bastian was excited that Jaden might have finally straighten up and focused on his studies but he noticed that everything Jaden was looking over wasn't even in their current studies; what exactly was this teen up to started to baffle his friend's minds.

When this was going on, the Gravekeeper's Organization was growing in an outstanding rate; at this pace the Gravekeeper's will have taken over the legitimate businesses all over the world with nothing coming close to stopping them.

This especially with the completion of the Blue Rose Project; with its completion no longer members of the Organization will suffer from colds to cancer; now stronger and energized they can complete twice as much as they use to; and soon plans to convert wastelands into paradises. Will is now Commandant 1 with his sister Virus being 2, they might get at ends with each other but their work on the project being just what it needed.

And in the Cannonholder's division, Hassleberry and Backfire are already training elite soldiers for what might be to come; so much power form one Organization was bound to cause fear in some places in the world and it was their job to calm it down as quickly as possible. Soon the new world order will take place with the Cannonholder's proud to defend it.

But for the time being, school was in session. The teachers couldn't be happier with how all of this has turned out with record breaking high grades; the Organization inflicting a strict B average policy or the member was to be on academic probation till the grades came back up. For once the majority of the student body where in the A's and B's.

Alexis was focusing on the lecture at hand, a Chief must always keep an A average but that was never a problem for her. Ever since becoming a Chief school work had become a piece of cake compared to the mountains of paperwork she had to do for the Gravekeeper's, she could get an A in her sleep.

With the new world order soon to come, she could only grin that cold smile of hers; with all the power she was about to obtain nothing seemed to be out of her reach. But with that thought in mind, something kept bothering her since that last match with Jaden and Fredi, like there was another reason entirely that she joined the ranks of the Gravekeeper's, yet when she tried to remember why all she could see was some-kind of wall made of light in her mind. Was there really something else she wanted besides power and control for becoming a Chief?

She shook her head, what else could there be; such ideas seemed to be completely ridicules and idiotic; but that didn't stop the strange pain in her chest.

The ending bell signaled their leave, yet an announcement from their Chancellor caused them to wait. "The final match of the fifth round will be against Kristen Judo of AD Tech Duel Academy VS David Sepulcher of Duel City Academy. Can you believe that this Tournament is almost over?"

"All hail our Head Chief!" the members of the Gravekeeper's called out, praising their almighty leader with their cheers.

Alexis smirked that icy smile of hers; very soon her Chief will win this tournament an not only will this Organization run how this world works but be known as the strongest duelist in the schools, there wasn't anything that could hinder their plans now.

Collecting her school supplies she made her way up the stairs, only to be annoyed for the person standing in her way; what did this incompetent student want now? "You again," she didn't even try hide her ill content for the person in front of her, "what do you want now? Is it you want me to make good on my promise to have the Guards throw you off the Island?"

Yet something was different with this short boy that stood before her, probably using the stairs as a way to make himself look taller; he looked determined and serious, nothing like the slacker she knew before. "I challenge you to a Duel!"

Yup something was defiantly different about this Slacker; he didn't do that irritating laugh or that annoying catchphrase of his; he was serious, she liked that. "Why would I want to waste my valuable time to duel someone as pathetic as you?"

"Because I looked up some of the rules of your Organization," he grinned, "and one can challenge a Gravekeeper's Chief at anytime as long as a bet is made."

This nearly knocked her off her feet, him... studying? There must have been something he really wanted to do something like that. "This better be a good bet, what do you want if you win?"

"If I win, I want a position of an Assailant working under you," if this duel didn't work out how he planed, he would be close and try again.

Alexis didn't know what he could be up to, this probably the only way he could become a member of this Organization with his grades. "Acceptable, but if I win you will have every bone in your left arm broken; making sure you are to never duel again!"

Unconsciously Jaden grabbed onto his left arm; he never wound have guessed she would bet something so brutal; but he didn't have any other choice, he new he would win. "It's a deal; we duel after the Tournament Match."

She could only imagine how enjoyable it will be to hear every bone in his left arm brake, not to mention how miserable his life will be after he could no longer duel. "Just be ready to keep your bet; now get out of my way while I'm still in a good mood."

He stepped to the side, letting the Chief walk by. He had to win, no matter what it took.

* * *

Alexis could only walk through the hallway with that icy smile on her lips; not only will the Organization go through with its plan without a problem but she could finally get rid of the reason the grades for this school were slipping. It was a good thing the Gravekeeper's came here when they did or people like that slacker would have over-runned the school.

However, this started her thinking about something else, why was she thinking about that moron a lot lately; was there something more to Jaden to her then just being an annoy pest?

"Your speeches are starting to send chills through even my spine," the heartless tone of Bloodlust informed, "my Chief."

Even though they were on the same side, she still didn't trust this guy; remembering the time she nearly became his next meal but luckily was saved... somehow, everything was just a blur after that. "What do you want?"

"Still defensive I see," he chuckled, expecting as much. He leaned his back against the wall, "I was just going to inform you that my team would be ever-so-happy to break that arm of his; I bet TNT would love to whip something up, he has been so bored lately making things that will help people."

"Sounds interesting," she grinned, "do you think he will have it up and running by the time our Head Chief wins his duel?"

"Hmm, it might be a rush job with how fast our Head Chief is defeating his opponents but it can be done," the dark one replied, pushing himself off of the wall, "you know though, I did prefer your nicer personality, your blood would have been sweeter."

She turned her back to him, only to state something one could quote from her. "Nice is for the weak," where she quickly stormed off, wanting to get to her seat to watch the match.

* * *

Kristen looked at the three cards in her hand, nothing there to get her out of what she was in now; to be truthful she hasn't had anything to defend herself for the last three turns, only with 300 life points left and nothing on the field to defend herself from the army David had on his field. He could have killed her off anytime but he is enjoying making her keep wishing for the last bit of hope that would never come.

David had 3500 life points, a Gravekeeper's Chief, a face down Guardian Sphinx, End of Anubis, with Necrovalley and two other face down spell or trap cards; he could end this duel at any time but he was enjoying making her suffer; something another thing Mr. Grave was applaud by, a Chief would never do something like this.

"It's your turn, Miss. Judo," David informed with a sadistic glee in his eyes and five cards in his hand, "are you going to draw soon?"

Kristen grinded her teeth, she knew that she could still win this match but this had to be the luck of the draw. "All right, I draw!" she announced, pulling out her Ninja Art: Stealth Strike! A card that destroys a spell card and afterwards can destroy a face–down monster; with this she can destroy that field card of his and that Guardian that would just flip her monster back to her hand.

"I will summon Strike Ninja in attack mode," she called out, summoning the 1700 attack power ninja, "now I will play the spell card Ninja Art: Stealth Strike! destroying your Necrovalley!"

David only chuckled. "And here I was hoping this match would last a bit longer," discarding Gravekeeper's Curse to the graveyard to activate his face-down card. "Judgment of Anubis, destroying your spell card and in the process destroying your monster, taking its attack points out of your life points."

Her monster was destroyed before her eyes, dropping her life points to 0. "Winner of the final round of the fifth round: David Sepulcher of Duel City Academy!"

"Go Chief David!" the audience cheered, but Alexis had something else in mind while she watched the two walk of the platform, and that was to finally get rid of an annoyance that wouldn't stop plaguing her thoughts.

* * *

A little after twenty minutes, making sure that the last person cleared out of the auditorium, the Chief of Duel Academy made her way up to the platform, keeping a Assailant by her sides, you can never be too safe these days.

Once she stopped at the platform, she half expected for the Slacker to have her waiting their for another few minutes but there he was; duel disk in arm and standing tall, this only slightly impressed her though. "On time I see, so far you haven't screwed up your interview."

"I'm not planning on screwing up," he announced with confidence in his tone, but whispered to himself, "not this time."

The Assailant on her left equipped the Duel Disk on her arm where the one on her right presented her with her deck; taking it from the Assailant she equipped it into her device, activating it. "Oh and to make sure you stay on your side of the bet, you will need to wear that," she pointed behind him.

There TNT stood with a grin on his face while holding that strange contraption; Jaden didn't know what to make of it besides it looked like a metal sleeve for his left arm. "What is that thing?"

TNT chuckled; he was hoping the dimwit would ask. "This straps onto your arm and this wire connects to your duel disk. So for each life point you lose the tighter this will grip around your arm, hand and fingers. Once it reaches 0 every bone in your left arm will be broken beyond repair."

The Hero Duelist was completely shocked, he knew that Alexis had changed for the worst but she was really willing to break his arm if he lost the duel. Yet he didn't have a choice: he new why she turned out like this, he knew it was all his fault and he knew he was the only one that could snap her out of it. "All right I will, as long as you keep your end of the bet."

Alexis's eyes grew cold from that accusation, scaring the duelist across from her. "A Chief's word is law," her icily tone spoke, "just by saying I will do it should be more then enough."

His body was shaking as that device was being attached, hoping he wasn't too late to make everything right.

Once the contraption was secured and the wire connected to his Duel Disk; 4000 life points appeared as they both called out. "Let's Duel!"

Both drew five cards and with the Chief's rules in play, the challenger goes first; drawing his sixth card. He looked over his hands, now wanted to see if studying actually did help in life. "I start off this match with Neo Spacian Air Hummingbird in attack mode!"

With that, the strange humanoid bird was summon to the field with only 800 attack points, with attack points alone to the untrained eye that would have been a terrible opening move. "But now once it's summoned its effect kicks in, letting me gain 500 life points for every card in your hand while draining it from your life points!"

The Chief grinded her teeth at this move, using that card when her hand was practically full was a smart move; he must have been hitting the books. With that, her life points dropped to 1500 as Jaden's rose to 6500.

"I'll throw down a face down then end my turn," but those catchphrases of his still annoyed her.

Jaden: Life points 6500 Cards 4

Alexis: life points 1500 Cards 5

"I draw," Alexis announce, drawing the sixth card from her deck. With this card she smirked icily, wanting to try out this new Gravekeeper improved deck of hers and who better on then a slacker, "I will start off by playing the Field Spell Card, Necrovalley!"

The field around them became that of a dried wasteland of cliffs and sand, how the people of the Gravekeeper's could survive here this Hero Duelist would never know. "And now I will play the spell card Machine Angel Ritual, sacrificing Gravekeeper's Blader for, Gravekeeper's Angel Benten!"

This 1800 attack female warrior summoned to the field was very familiar to the boy, but he couldn't quite place his finger on where. But then it hit him. "Wait, isn't that supposed to be Cyber Angel Benten!?"

"Able to figure it out on the first turn, your not as stupid as I thought you were," she smirked that icily smirk of hers, not wanted to pass up a chance to state out his obvious lack of intelligence, "Well for being a Chief it would be suitable for me to use Gravekeeper cards; but I was so use to my Cyber Angel Deck I just had our new connections with Industrial Illusions to create them in Gravekeeper's form. Now not only do they still have their old effects, but they now get power from the Necrovalley, raising my Benten by 500 attack!"

The monster on her field rose to 2300, not looking so good for the humanoid parakeet on Jaden's side of the field. "But not only that, as I equip Ritual Weapon, giving it 1500 extra attack and defense power!" she stated, watching as the device was placed on her monsters arm, raising the attack to 3800, "now Benten, destroy his chicken without any mercy!"

Following the Chief's orders, she used her giant metal fan to clip the bird's wings; dropping Jaden to 3500 life points. "Oh and did I forget to mention, with the destruction of your pathetic excuse for a bird you lose the defense points out of your life points!"

The second fan passed right through the Hero Duelist, dropping him down to 2900, already starting to feel the side effects of that sleeve contraption as it tightened up on his arm, making it harder to move his fingers. "Well I activate my Trap Card, N Signal!" revealing his face down card, "Now I can special summon a 4 star or lower Neo Spacian from my deck to the field, and I chose Neo Spacian Grand Mole in defense mode!"

Once the little fluff ball was summoned to the field, Alexis rolled her eyes; already relying on such old tricks. "I will place one card face down and end my turn."

Jaden: life points 2900 Cards 4

Alexis: life points 1500 Cards 0

Even though Jaden noticed Alexis used up every card in her hand, with that monster on the field he was at the disadvantage; even if he was to use the effect of his Grand Mole that face-down card of hers would probably counter it; this doubt in his mind really starting to affect his concentration. "Well here goes... something," the boy drew his fifth card.

Chuckling to the sound of his doubt, she already felt like there was going to be one less annoyance in the world. "Don't tell me you're already giving up, and here I was hoping for somewhat more of a pastime before getting back to work," yet how that statement came out befuddled her, did she want this moron to keep going? It started to scare her that she might have emotions other then content towards someone as worthless as him.

Jaden got a lucky draw, seeing a combo that just might work to end this duel rather quickly. "I now play the spell card Fake Hero to special summon from my hand, Elemental Hero Neos!"

The white Neo Spacian was summoned to the field, but its 2500 attack points were nothing to the 3800 Benten. "Now I will use Contact Fusion, fusing Neos with Grand Mole to summon Neo Spacian Grand Neos!"

From the bright light of the two monster's powers, combined to a humanoid like creature with a large drill for a right hand, but still only 2500 life points. "With that I use his effect, returning your Benten back to your hand!"

When the card returned to her hand she wasn't fazed at all, half expecting him to do so with that Grand Mole on the field; the main reason she placed that face down card. The Necrovalley gave its power to those who protected it. "Now I will have Grand Neos end this duel with Drill Strike!"

She laughed coldly. "Did you really think you could beat a Chief that easy?" moving her hand over her card. "I activate my Face Down card, Rite of Spirits, bringing back my Gravekeeper's Blader in attack mode!"

With that move alone completely changed the tides of the match, that Rite of Spirits able to bypass the laws of Necrovalley; the 2100 attack of that monster quickly rose to 2600, already easily overpowering that alien. Jaden had no choice. "I call off my attack."

His monster returned to his side of the field where Alexis could only giggle with that frozen laugh of hers. "And here I was hoping you would launch your pathetic excuse for a monster to his pointless demise. It's not good to give up the hopes of a woman you know."

He couldn't let this little setback slow him down, and putting another monster on his side of the field would only double her Blader's attack. "I throw down a face down and end my turn." But with that call, he watched his Neo Spacian return to his fusion deck.

Jaden: life points 2900 Cards 2

Alexis: life points 1500 Cards 1

"Could you stop with those annoying catchphrases?" she yelled once she drew her card, "they're giving me a headache!"

She looked back at her hand, mentally cursing that she had nothing good just incase that face-down of his would save his behind. Even Jaden wasn't that stupid as to leave his field wide open for a direct attack. Better to get it over with. "I will have my Blader attack you directly!"

That grin now creeping from ear to ear, if he was bluffing this would be almost the end of this dork. But what was this constant feeling that was conflicting with her, almost like she wanted to stop the attack.

"I activate my face-down, Flute of Summoning Kuriboh, summoning Winged Kuriboh from my deck to the field," Jaden was able to activate at the last minute, summoning his good pal to the field just as Blader slashed it in two; saving his life points for the time being where Alexis let out the breath that she was holding it. This action once again surprised her, why did she care if he blocked that attack; why did she care about him at all?

Her head not only throbbed from those annoying catchphrases, but from her own actions as well. She could barely stand being in the same classroom as him before but now it almost felt like she wanted to him to win. Why would a noble Chief of the Gravekeeper's care about such a worthless peon like him, feeling like that strange wall of light in her mind was starting to crack.

Almost a whole minute went by as she was deep in her thoughts, causing Jaden to break the silence with a concern tone. "Alexis, are you all right?"

But once he broke that silence, she looked at him with eyes that were no longer cold, but full of hate and rage. "How dare you call me by my name you worthless maggot!" her violent voice even scared the Assailants that came with her, never seeing their Chief act like this. "Someone as lowly as you has no right to call me by my first name! I will end my turn with a face down card, but say goodbye to what's left of your life points next turn."

Jaden: life points 2900 Cards 2

Alexis: life points 1500 Cards 1

The Hero Duelist felt like he was losing her even more for every second that past; he had to do something and do something fast.

And with the draw of his next card, he put on that energetic smile he was so well known for. "Come on, you really need to lighten up; dueling should always be fun or else there is no real point."

"Are you going to continue to postpone your meaningless existence or are you going to complete your turn?" she asked while grinding her teeth, not knowing herself why this was making her as angry as she was; like with the more cracks in that wall appeared the angrier she got. However within this anger, she felt a deep sadness, this strange feeling of sadness started to make her feel like her heart was about to break.

His body shaking a little from this anger of hers, knowing somehow this anger had to be his fault. So he had to make everything right, even if it cost him the chance to duel again. "I play the spell card, Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw two more cards," with that he drew till he had four cards in his hand, getting just what he needed. "Now I will play Polymerization, fusing Elemental Hero: Clayman and Sparkman to summon, Elemental Hero: Thunder Giant!"

Once the large electric giant was summoned to the field, Jaden chuckled. "Now doesn't this bring back memories?"

But this question confused the Chief of Duel Academy. "What the heck are you babbling on about now?"

He was a bit shocked that Alexis would even ask, knowing she had a better memory then him. "Don't you remember, this was the same monsters we had on the field last time we dueled each other; I summoned my Thunder Giant after you summoned your Cyber Blader. If I recall correctly that's how I won."

Alexis was a bit scared after that, why couldn't she remember something like that? Putting her hand to her head with the pain becoming more intense by the moment; seeing those cracks becoming larger and thicker, there was just too much she didn't get at the moment. "Why would I remember such a waste of time," she stuttered to get out, not understanding what was going on with her.

"Well I hope this brings back some memories, for as I discard one card from my hand," he sent Necroshade to his graveyard, "I can destroy one monster on your side of the field whose Original Attack Points are less then his."

Alexis's eyes went wide; even though her monster was stronger then his original attack was lower. But another thing crossed her mind why did that seem all too familiar, like a feeling of déjà vu.

"Now Thunder Giant, destroy her Gravekeeper's Blader with Vapor Sparks!" Jaden announce, with nothing she could do to stop it she watched as her monster was zapped with electricity and sent to the graveyard. "But that's not all as it can still attack. Go with Voltic Thunder!"

"Not so fast," Alexis was able to clear her thoughts in-time, discarding her Benten to activate her face-down card, "I activate my trap card, Hollowed Life Barrier, negating the damage attempt from that behemoth."

A strange light protected her and her life points from that lightning bolt assault. "I will have to end my turn."

Jaden: life points 2900 Cards 0

Alexis: life points 1500 Cards 0

This match was starting to get too weird for the Queen of Duel Academy, bringing out strange emotions that were constantly conflicting with her train of thought; she needed to end this duel very soon. "I draw."

She pulled out just the card she needed. "I play the spell card Pot of Greed as well, drawing two cards," with that simple move she got two cards in her hand, two cards that will help her beat this moron once and for all. "Now I will summon, Gravekeeper's Assailant in attack mode!"

There one of the original Gravekeeper's were summoned to the field with 1500 attack points, which rose to 2000 thanks to the Necrovalley. "Now I will equip my Assailant with Fairies Meteor Crush, giving it the ability to deal damage to you even if your monster is in defense mode."

It looks like that studying actually did help the Hero Duelist in someway, realizing with Necrovalley on the field she could have Assailant switch the attack position of the monster it was attacking; too bad this knowledge wasn't going to protect him. "Now Assailant, switch Jaden's Goliath to defense mode and slash him to bits!"

The loyal member of the Gravekeeper's did as she was told, jumping into the air just as Thunder Giant switched into 1500 defense. There it was slashed, destroying the monster and dropping his life points down to 2400; the sleeve so tight now he could barely bend his arm, already starting to feel it go numb. "I will end my turn."

Jaden: life points 2400 Cards 0

Alexis: life points 1500 Cards 0

Jaden drew his next card, revealing it to be Neo Spacian Flare Scarab, at this moment this monster would be nothing more then a shield card, not to mention with that equipment card it would be a weak defense. So he just had to hope he will last to his next draw. "I'll have to end my turn."

Jaden: life points 2400 Cards 1

Alexis: life points 1500 Cards 0

Alexis couldn't help but laugh hysterically, if she could just draw a monster this loser would be no more and this massive headache she had would just disappear; this pain in her and the school's side will be forever out of their sight.

So she drew, cursing that it was just a spell card, but this spell card would become very useful for her next turn. "I play the spell card, Gravekeeper's Village, now as long as I have Necrovalley on the field, I am allowed to draw two cards during my draw phase; but right now I'm going to have my Assailant attack your life points directly."

That blade grew twice it size before in a blink of an eye went right through the boy's body, dropping his life points to 400 and feeling the device tighten; so much he could already feel his bones cracking from his shoulder to the tips of his fingers; unable to hold back his screams of pain from this medieval torture device.

But Alexis only giggled with glee from his screams of agony, this is what she was waiting to hear since she first made that bet with him; oh was it pleasing to the ears. "Oh just give up this one-sided duel Jaden, there is no way you can win now. If you do I might allow you to keep the use of your arm."

This pain in his arm was horrendous, but it was nothing compared to another pain he had been holding onto for so long; one that felt like it has been burning a hole in his chest. "No," this answer made the Chief glare, "I'm not going to give up. I have to win, no matter what!"

With this Alexis noticed something; all the actions that Jaden has done so far continuously befuddled her: a known slacker, studying, putting on this strict persona just to challenge her to a duel, and even going through the chance of causing irreversible harm to his left arm he still continued to duel. What exactly could have been so meaningful that he would attempt all of this? It just didn't make any sense. "I end my turn."

Jaden: life points 400 Cards 1

Alexis: life points 1500 Cards 0

Yet before Jaden could start, Alexis asked in her icy tone. "Tell me, before you start your Draw Phase, why are you doing all of this?"

Even though it was still in her cold tone, he felt like he might be getting through to her. It was now or never. "I-It's because," but even with all the preparations he took, it didn't stop his throat from feeling as dry as that desert field around them, "there is someone I truly care about, more then I originally realized, who I am trying to get back; and winning this duel is the only way I can get her back."

But Alexis looked like she was about to throw up from that story. "I'm glad I haven't had dinner yet or I might have just lost it. So who is this poor girl that has the unfortunate burden of having you crushing on her?"

"It's you!" he just couldn't hold back anymore; the pain in his chest along with the feeling like his arm was being twisted got to him. "I wasn't strong enough to tell you this before but it's you; feeling like you would still be your old self if I just told you this sooner."

Alexis didn't know what to think as he continued with his statement. "I'm sorry I kept avoiding you all those times you tried to talk with me; I just didn't understand the strange feelings I was getting while around you," with this speech, he could quickly feel the pain in his chest disappearing, "if the reason you are like this now is because of me, I'm truly very sorry."

She wanted to just tell him off, tell him these feelings he had for her were completely childish and worthless. But that just wasn't the case as that strange pain grew stronger inside of her, feeling like her ice cold heart was starting to break away. "Just..." she painfully exclaimed, "go!"

He moved his arm to draw that card, feeling his bones cracking even more just from that small task; not to mention the complete loss of feeling in his fingers as he struggled to pull out that card. "Here goes... something!"

Once he pulled that card a surge of pain shot through his body; letting out a short scream before looking at it. Luckily this was just the card he needed to melt that ice heat of hers. "I will summon, Neo Spacian Flare Scarab to the field in attack mode!"

It was unbearable from how much of an effort it took just to place that humanoid scarab on the field, but it would all be worth it with his next card. "And now I will summon, Elemental Hero Neos!"

"Wait a second," the Chief called out with one hand clutched tightly over her heart, grinding her teeth to this annoying pain, "not only should that card be in the graveyard but how can you summon him without a sacrifice?"

"Because," he tried to hold back the agony to explain, "Contact Fusion puts Neos back into my deck and not the graveyard and with Elemental Hero Necroshade in my graveyard I can summon a monster without a sacrifice, since your Necrovalley doesn't stop effects coming out of the graveyard."

There once again the alien hero was summoned to the field. "Now I use Contact Fusion, fusing Neos with Flare Scarab to create Elemental Hero Flare Neos!"

The 2500 attack powered monster was summoned to the field, a complete fusion of both creatures. "Now his special ability activates, gaining 400 attack points for each spell and trap on the field, gaining a grand total of 1200 extra attack points!"

Alexis grin, that was 400 attack points too many. "Your math is off; I only have two spell cards on the field, making you gain only 800 attack points."

"I think your forgetting one," he grinned, which made her remember that Necrovalley was also included in that list; the spell card that was supposed to only give her the advantage turned against her. It made her wonder how this lowlife could have pulled this off.

With his monster at 3700, Jaden announced. "Now Flare Neos, melt that frozen heart of hers once and for all!"

His monster was consumed with its own fire as it charged head-first, destroying Alexis's Assailant and right through her, dropping her life points down to 0. "That's game!" Jaden stated.

Jaden: life points 400 Cards 0

Alexis: life points 0 Cards 0

But with that final attack she could feel that wall of light just shatter in her mind, the flood of emotions and memories returning back into her body. These feelings so strong she just collapsed on the ground while the holograms disappeared and the device on Jaden's arm released.

Even before he got the feeling back in his arm, Jaden rushed over to Alexis's side, helping her off the ground where he held her in his hold. "Alexis!" he called out to her, not wanting to loose her ever again. "Alexis are you all right? Say something."

The Assailants also rushed to her side, but gave the two enough room to breath. Her eyes gently opened up, once again seeing her night in shining armor helping the princess in need; how could she have forgotten all of the nice things he had ever done for her. "This feels like... déjà vu," she answered him in a tone she hadn't used in a while, her old kind one. But then she smile weakly. "Do you still... want the job?"

He smiled down at her with that answer, because he knew if she was still her cold self she would have beaten him for touching her. Yet there was another reason, and that was he saw his old friend again; completely ignoring the agony in his arm for the time being as the feeling started to come back.

* * *

"What the heck are you talking about?" Chancellor Sheppard asked to the young teen sitting in front of his desk, "What makes you think you can buy this school?"

But Chief David just relaxed his chin on his intertwined fingers, grinning at the principle of this school. "Once my Organization engulfs Kaiba Corp. this school with become part of the Gravekeeper's. And do I have plans for this place."

Sheppard wish he could do something about this, but at the moment David's power as Head Chief made him practically immune to their laws. "And what kind of plans would those be?"

Chief David's grin only grew, hoping the man before him would ask that question. "Well, once my Organization takes over all the businesses in the world we will practically own the world; so what better to make this school into a training ground to train the most elite Gravekeeper's for the future."

The Chancellor was shocked to even hear such an idea; did he really think this plan of his could work. "What makes you think that Kaiba would give you his Corporation?"

"Who ever said he was going to give me it, I'm planning on a hostile takeover," he chuckled, "once Kaiba Corp. is under my control nothing with be able to stop the Gravekeeper's Organization. Don't you think, Assailant 1?"

With that question Professor Crowler step out from the shadows, wearing an Assailant uniform. "That sounds like an excellent idea, my Chief."

Sheppard knew that most of his student body was now part of his Organization, but his Staff as well. "He even gets his own assistant, Assailant 1.5," David informed as the short stubble of a man appeared next to him; a man that could somewhat be mistaken as Napoleon.

"So Chancellor," David's eyes were only filled with glee; like that of a person who has thought ten moves ahead on a chessboard, and had his victim in a hopeless match, "are you with the Organization, or against it?"

To Be Continued

Sorry for the long wait but I put a lot of hard work into this chapter. With Alexis back to normal with this hinder David's plans or has he already thought this problem through; what will become of Duel Academy once this tournament is over? Soon I will have this fanfic finished so read and review.


	32. The end is near

Chapter 32: The end is near

There the four remaining duelists stood on the center platform within the large jam-packed auditorium; the cheering only settling down with the gender confusing doctor making his way to the center of it all. "Well due to common interests, we are having the remaining four duelists duel right now for the semifinals!"

The cheers echoed the auditorium once again; the only thing that was more exciting in a school of dueling then watching one tournament match, was watching two tournament matches. "Yes and those four remaining duelists are, from AD Tech Duel Academy's Fredi Heat; Duel City Academy's David Sepulcher, also from Duel City Academy Edgar Knight; and last, and certainly least of the remaining duelists, from our own fine academy: Jaden Yuki!"

With each standing in a square formation on that large circle platform; the four remaining duelists waved to the crowd, yet with the majority of Gravekeeper's within the audience it was quite obvious who the favorite amongst the group was; over cheering anyone else with praises for their Chief's certain victory.

"Now for who will be dueling for the semifinals," looking over the note-cards he prepared earlier from orders of his Chief, "Match A will be Fredi Heat against David Sepulcher where Match B will be Edgar Knight against Jaden Yuki."

David just let out a dark chuckle under his breath, still puzzled on how the moron was still in this tournament. However that didn't matter now. Knowing Edgar since childhood gave its advantages; not only was the idiot using the Dragon gang's most hated cards, but with how this leader of the Gravekeeper's thrashed him earlier he would destroy anyone in his path to get his revenge. Soon the only flaw in this school will be nothing but a pile of ashes while at the same time he could face off against Fredi once again, this time with his own deck and not the one the two-bit hack of a psychic made him use.

After the announcement the duelist took their positions, and Jaden looking a bit worried at the duelist he will be facing standing across from him. Edgar's eyes already glowing the deepest shade of blood red he has ever seen while his teeth filed down to a point that could turn diamonds into powder; and this hyperactive student of Duel Academy could swear he saw ash come out of his mouth with each breath. He knew Edgar hated him because he was a Hero Duelist through and through but this just seemed like a bit overboard.

Even the audience that was paying attention to Match B could see this battle was going to be a bloody one. Alexis, now back to her old self, felt worried; hoping that now that she didn't hate him with ever fiber of her being he wasn't going to be killed right before her eyes. There was still too much that was needed to be done.

With the decks shuffled and the Duel Disks activated, there was only one thing the four could say now. "Let's Duel!"

4000 life points appeared for each of the Duelists and five cards in hand, with Match B, Jaden started off by drawing his sixth card. "Still using those worthless heroes I bet," the ash more apparent from his low sadistic growl, not to mention he didn't look to hot, causing this Hero Duelist to wonder if Edgar had fully healed yet; a feeling of déjà vu from that duel he saw with Reality after their match, "I'm going to enjoy making those cards useful for once, as scraps for burning."

Jaden knew he needed to put up either a very strong monster or a very strong defense really soon. But he didn't have a single monster in his hand at the moment, wondering if his cards where somehow threatened from the last encounter they had with the leader of the Dragon Gang. The memory of that incident alone caused his stomach to be sore once again.

But with no monsters in his hand, all he could do was set down three cards in the spell/trap card section; hoping that his trust in his deck wasn't faltering in this match. "I set three and end turn."

Jaden: 4000 3

Edgar: 4000 5

"Expected from a Hero deck, completely worthless," drawing his sixth card with Edgar's eyes looking over at his old friend; not going to let this insignificant want-a-be Hero stand in his way from saving the possessed Chief. With enough darkness even light can be blocked; and with the cards he had there was nothing that could stop him; so ninety-five percent power should be more then enough to turn the duelist in front of him to dust. "Let me prove it once and for all how useless they are!"

Even people without the ability to see duel monster spirits could swear they saw what looked to be the Red Eyes Black Dragon around his body; wings so black they blocked out the lights above them as they stretched from one end of the stadium to the other. His eyes filled with murderous intent as they glowed that deep blood red. This removed any doubt within the audience's mind that this skirt chaser was the leader of the Dragon Gang.

His claw enveloped hand revealed the card he just drew, revealing it the ever-growing nervous teen his spell card. "I now activate my spell card, Polymerization, fusing the three Red Eyes I have in my hand to summon, my Red Eyes Ultimate DRAGON (3600)!"

Even the duelist from Match A diverted their attention to the duel beside them; the entire island now shaking to the summoning of that ferocious creature. "And don't think I'm done with you just yet, because I still have my spell card, Rage of the Red Eyes. By sacrificing all but 100 life points, I can summoning forth: Red Eyes Meteor Dragon (3500), Black Skull Dragon (3200), Red Eyes Metal Dragon (2800), and my newest teammate, Red Eyes Darkness Dragon (3200); who gets a 600 extra attack power for the three Red Eyes Black Dragon that are in my graveyard!"

Anyone that was good at math could tell Jaden that combined; their attack power reached 16,300; enough to take out four duelists at once let alone completely obliterate one. The sheer power from these dragons even caused some of the audience members to leave the auditorium for their own safety. The match now looking very much one sided and Jaden, just looks like he will soon be killed.

"With your Hero's no where to be found, this is just going to be fun," the ash now pouring out of his mouth with cinders as well, "so my dragons, ONSLAUGHT!!"

"I activate..." was all the spectators where able to hear before he was enveloped in the fire of the combined attacks; even Alexis was terrified at the thought once the fires disappeared there will be nothing but dust where Jaden once stood.

Fredi was probably the only person there that didn't have a reaction on his face where David just wanted to start laughing. Even if Jaden activated some trap card at the last moment there is no way he would have any life points left from this barrage, let alone a body.

But a bigger shock then OJ getting acquitted; there Jaden stood in one piece, with 500 life points still to his name. "Whoa," was the first words out of Jaden's mouth, "my math was a bit off, I though I would have had a lot less."

The crowd completely speechless, with the same question running through their minds. "This is impossible!" Edgar ranted, "You must have cheated somehow; no one has ever had any life points left over from my Rage of the Red Eyes!"

But once the dust cleared, it was revealed to everyone that Jaden didn't activate just one card; but all three: Draining Shield, Nutrients Z, and the quick play spell Shrink. "This is amazing!" Bastion broke the silence beside his Chief. "By using Draining Shield on Ultimate, he stopped one attack while adding to his own life points, so that Meteor's attack was rendered useless with 100 additional points. Then with the attack from Metal he could activate Nutrients Z, even after the attack he had the life points went up to 5300. After taking a direct hit from Darkness he activated Shrink on Skull, which saved his life points to 500. It looks like he was actually listening to my lectures."

_Wow did I get lucky,_ Jaden rubbed the back of his head, _looks like studying does have its advantages while sleeping through Bastion's lectures._

Yet now that was over, he needed to think of a way to get around this wall of Red Eyes. However, that seemed to solve itself with the end of Edgar's turn, as they just disappeared from his field. David couldn't help but grind his teeth; the Rage of the Red Eyes only lasts for one turn, afterwards the Dragons that were summoned, along with the Ultimate Dragon, were sent to the remove from play field.

Jaden: 500 3

Edgar: 100 0

All Jaden needed was to draw one monster card, putting all of his faith in a single draw. "Here goes... something!"

The spirits must have been listening to his prays as he drew his faithful Avian; it looked like it wants its fighting chance at the student who nearly ripped him in half. "I will summon Elemental Hero: Avian (1000)." Summoning the green Hawkman styled monster to the field. "Now, attack him directly, Quill Cascade!"

There was nothing that this Dragon Gang Leader could do but get bombarded by the attack, dropping him to 0 life points. "That's game!"

Jaden: 500 3

Edgar: 0 0

But before Jaden could shout out his famous line, they watched as Edgar just collapsed where he stood. "Edgar!" Jasmine called out, rushing up to her boyfriend that laid motionless on that platform. "What were you thinking? You weren't fully healed yet and you pulled off something like this!"

But that demonic face he had a moment ago completely vanished, leaving that goofy smile on his face. "You know Jasmine," Edgar struggled with the strength he had left to say, "You look pretty when you're worried."

A warm smiled quickly appeared on her face with a slight giggle slipping from her lips. A little amusing on how quickly with such simple words he was able to quell her worries. "If you have enough strength to flirt with me you are just fine," helping the teen up on his feet and off the platform.

"Winner of Match B for the Semi-Finals: Jaden of our Academy!" Crowler announced, but the viewers of the match were still too speechless to cheer on his behalf. So, Match A quickly resumed their battle.

However, after only a few turns after; another shock hit the audience as Fredi put his hand on the top of his deck. "I'm bored," stating his cold tone with the projections disappearing before them, "Power Duelists aren't worth it."

Fredi wasn't only bored, but very annoyed. He knew that the Chief of the Gravekeeper's focused manly on strategy rather then power, a perfect test for his deck. But his deck was just stuffed with every strong card that could fit. Before he ended the duel he faced a Jinzo, Snipe Hunter, and two gravekeeper's Spies in defense mode; who ever this duelist was it wasn't their Chief. Any moron could make a Power Deck; there was no challenge in dueling it at all and the people who made these kinds of decks just ruin the game. So he just, without another word, made his way off of the platform and out of the stadium; not once looking back on the duel or his decision.

"The winners of the Semi-Finals: David Sepulcher from Duel City Academy and Jaden from our own prestigious academy!" the bad Doctor announced. With that, the audience quickly filled cheers and praise; mainly for the Gravekeeper's Head Chief though.

* * *

Freed from the White Light's control, Alexis was back to her old self; something her older brother couldn't stop cheering over which greatly annoyed her, once-in-a-while thinking it might have been a bad thing to get freed after all.

However, now that she was free her morality returned to normal; she had to tell Jaden and the others what David has had planned all along since the Gravekeeper's Organization was established, something she knew they had to hear. "He's planning what!?"

She expecting to hear an outburst like that from him, along with the gasping of everyone else that joined in this meeting, while at the same time feeling like she should be blamed for some of this. Even though she was under the influence of the Light, the Queen of Duel Academy felt like she could have done something to stop it a lot sooner.

"You heard what I said," the words were just above a whisper; her eyes watching her gentle tanned thumbs rubbing together in her cupped hands. His outburst just confirming the guilt she felt deep in her stomach, "David plans to use the Blue Rose Project as a way to cause a Cleansing Flood through the Terraforming program the Commandant Division is working on. He is disguising it as a way to turn vast wastelands into inhabitable paradises, where he will then reverse the programming to turn the world to dust; purifying it in a blinding light, leaving only the other people that have been given the Blue Rose Project to make a new one under his rule."

The rest of the people she was discussing this with were people she knew for sure didn't have any affiliation or was against the idea of the Gravekeeper's Organization, but she knew David was in the same boat she was in, possessed by that strange space entity. "I don't get it, what is with megalomaniacs and a Cleansing Flood?" Reality commented. "I mean the idea seems to be a bit overdone over the years?"

"It's because that is the best way for a person to get rid of the people the mastermind deems as idiots," it was hard to mistake that frozen tone to anyone else but Fredi, leaning his back against the corner of the room; both of his eyes closed while he groaned under his breath, "it's something in our history that will be repeated countless times even if it finally does succeed."

"David is planning on starting the plan once the Organization does a corporate take over of Kaiba Corp. sometime this week," Alexis continued to inform the small group that could be dubbed as the Rebel Forces, wishing that somehow this plan she helped to create could be stopped in time, "once with Kaiba Corp.'s influences, the Gravekeeper's will be impossible to stop."

"So the Cutie of Duel Academy," with even in a time of crisis, Michael couldn't help but flirt with the attractive female host; something that got him a smack in the back of the head by Fredi. Rubbing his now sore head, "what do you have planned for a course of action?"

The attractive Gravekeeper's Chief for once didn't have an answer, still clouded in thought by the guilt of what she had done. She only wanted to become a Chief so that she could at least tell Jaden how she felt; so how could she have ever struck him, threaten his life or worse, threaten his life of dueling. The young teen wondered if she would ever be forgiven for the suffering she has caused. Her voice couldn't help but stutter for a reply. "I… don't k…know, with all David has planned there just doesn't seem to be any way to stop it."

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself," the low icy growl of Fredi caught everyone's attention, still leaning against the wall like he hasn't been paying attention since the meeting started, "if you weren't mopping in your own thoughts all this time you would have already figured out the way to stop David's plan in its tracks."

Everyone looked completely befuddled to what this student from Ad Tech Academy was trying to say, but Alexis knew exactly what he meant, it was something she didn't want to resolved to since after all, she had already gotten him in this much trouble.

Yet even though Alexis didn't want to say it, Fredi had no problem what-so-ever. "Hey, Slacker!"

Jaden instantly reacted; being called it for so long it just seemed to become his unofficial nickname. "Yeah?" now a little irritated that he did react so quickly.

"You and him still have one match between you left in the tournament; just bet him that if you win he can't take over Kaiba Corp," Fredi was able to explain coldly, almost like he didn't have any other emotion then that ticked off one. But everyone there seemed to instantly agree and a little shocked they didn't think of that sooner. However, Fredi then added, "and when that plan fails miserably we use his duel as a distraction to take down the Gravekeepers from the inside."

Annoyed, since the Hero Duelist had a good hunch that the last part was a crack at him; Jaden called out. "So you don't think I can beat the Chief?"

"It's not that," Fredi was quick to reply, "it's that I know you can't beat the Chief."

This meeting now turning into an argument between the two duelists; Alexis understood if she was to interrupt now will be pointless and knew to just let it burn out. "So what makes you believe that I can't beat David; I was able to beat you."

Pushing himself away from the wall, Fredi made his way over to the energetic teen. Opening his eyelids he revealed to Jaden his dark blue and red eyes; causing the Hero to feel like his throat was frozen. "Because I have a hard time believing that some twerp that wins purely on luck is worth trusting the lives of everyone in the entire world to. When you duel in this level one slip up of a draw and you are finished. Your use is better as a decoy and fed to the wolves."

With how Fredi was slouching over there, Jaden didn't realize how tall this teen was; towering at least a few inches taller then Alexis. Yet even with his throat like solid ice, he managed to get out. "It isn't luck; it is the heart of the cards!"

"Tomato tomoto," the cold teen from AD Tech Duel Academy used to counteract the squirt's heart-felt expression, "if you win it would be based on pure luck, so if you do win then that just means less work for us. But I would rather rely on Plan B. So go reform your deck, I bet the last duel will be tomorrow."

"What makes you say that?"

Fredi began to rub his aching head, hating to explain to a duelist that didn't even have enough IQ points to play this game to begin with. "Because it is obvious that David has some sort of pull towards the Tournament now; with some of us, I included, hoping you would have been turned to ashes from Edgar. Not to mention had the duels for the semi-finals at the same time, showing that he is trying to end this tournament very soon," calmly yet coldly explained; even without yelling this teen was very intimidating to everyone in that room, "so go to your room, recalibrate your deck and get ready to be slaughtered."

There was nothing left this Hero Duelist could do but do as Fredi said; slowly leaving the empty classroom to go recali…, well what every that word was he guessed it meant to work at, his deck.

The door closed behind him; walking a good ways down the baron halls before he heard someone else rush up to him. "Jaden, wait up," a sweet voice he knew too well called up, turning to see Alexis rushing towards him. Even though he was finally able to confess to her they haven't talked about the incidence since; that feeling in his throat returning but he made sure to keep his legs planted where they stood. There was no reason to run from her now.

"What's up Alexis; coming to cheer me on for how I'm going to beat the Chief in a sweet match," hiding his nervousness behind his signature go-lucky grin; if he was going to have a chance he needed to focus completely on how much he loves the game, "I'm so excited I don't think I will be able to sleep tonight."

"I just wanted to apologize on Fredi's behalf," she might have put up a tough front during school hours, but she was a good caring young woman at heart; always looking out for her friends probably being one of her best qualities this teen admired most about her, "if he knew how strong of a duelist you really are he might have cut you some slack. So just go kick butt and save the world like you did last year."

Giving her that famous thumbs-up of his to the Queen of Duel Academy, along with that goofy smile from ear to ear, said. "No sweat; just hope you get a good seat for the duel."

The empty hallway got eerily quiet after; both looking away from each other; like if half-expecting the other one to speak first. "Ah…" they spoke at the same time, causing them to retreat once again for a few more seconds, starting with Alexis speaking up. "Jaden… if you win; I would like to talk to you about something… all right?"

He might have been a complete dufus when it came to everything else besides dueling, yet this time he could clearly read the body language she was giving off: her head still looking at the floor, her gentle hands flexing and shaking; hoping the next words out of his mouth would cheer her up someway. "What do you mean if?" once again smiling that goofy smile of his, "I hope to chat with you when I win."

It seem like it did the trick, watching as a slight chuckle slipped through her smiling lips. "Then I will talk to you after the match; get a good night sleep."

"Can't wait."

* * *

The next day practically came and went; and right on with Fredi's speculation with the final match being right after school. The area packed so tight for the Final some people were forced to stand in the back as the Professor made the announcement.

"I can't believe it either but we have finally reached the final duel to the Ultimate School Duel!" with mixtures of cheers with moans of depression filling the air, soon this entire tournament was coming to an end within the next hour, "I know, soon we will have to be saying farewell to many of our transfer students and get back to our normal school lives; but give a big cheer for the finalists."

"All the way from Duel City Academy on my left; cheer for the one and only, David Sepulcher!" the lights flashed down on the teen, walking with Assailant 1 of Duel City Kimberly Mausoleum by his side; holding onto his deck while they made it up to the platform; confronted by the cheers of the audience and the praise from the Gravekeeper members. "And on my right, we got this academy's one, and hopefully only, Jaden Yuki!"

The cheers for the Head Chief easily trumped the cheers directed at the Hero Duelist when he walked onto the platform, placing all of his faith in the deck he built along with his fluffy companion Winged Kuriboh that rested on his shoulder. "You ready for this pal?" getting a chirpy nod from his duel spirit, having more enthusiasm for this match then himself at the moment, "glad to hear that; we are going to need to be at our best for this duel. Let's end this tournament with all we got."

His fluff-ball partner chirped to that once again, agreeing with the energetic teen just as Crowler addressed the remaining two. "Now shuffle each others decks to get this match started!"

But before Kimberly would present the deck, she remembered the words Mr. Grave told her just the other night; one of the duties that are given to those that chose to be an Assailant.

* * *

Seeking refuge and wisdom from her old mentor; she sat nervously on a wooden chair in Mr. Grave's temporary room; this just being where he would stay till after the match tomorrow before he take the position of the Chief for the company once known as Industrial Illusions.

He offered her some hot cocco before taking his seat just across from her. "T-Thank you," thanking him for the warm drink. Taking a few sips but it was still too hot; gently blowing a few times before taking another sip.

Mr. Grave was always there to help any member of the Gravekeeper's back when it was a gang; showing how treating the members of your gang with respect and caring was the best way to run the Business Gang of Duel City. This was an aspect she greatly admired about her childhood friend as well, and cared about very dearly. "So what's on your mind, Miss. Mausoleum? I haven't seen you this nervous since you took the Gravekeeper's Entrance Exam."

It had been so long since that exam she nearly forgot; since the Gravekeeper's are such a well structured gang, so unlike the other gangs' one had to take that exam before being allowed in and assigned a Division placement. It was also where the current Chief would sit in the front of the room to watch the progress; but this memory is better for another time. "I-I'm sorry if I am disturbing you at such a late hour," unable to stop the cup from shaking in her delicate hands.

"Don't worry about it," Mr. Grave's kind words quickly settled her down, "anytime you or any member of the Gravekeepers need help I'm more then happy to aid anyway I can."

Adjusting her thin frame glasses while taking a deep breath, she stated her problem. "I know that Dav… I mean my Chief is not himself; but even though I am the 1st Assailant for the Duel City District of the Gravekeeper's Organization, I can't help but feel so helpless, like there is nothing I can do to protect my Chief from himself."

It seemed like to her all she has done so far is use other people to help David, even bringing Mr. Grave here to try to snap him out of it; was there nothing that she could do to save the David she cared so much for. "You are not just a good Assailant Miss. Mausoleum, but a very good friend to David to care for him this much. I still remember every time you would act so nervous during the exam just glancing at the back of his head you seemed to find the courage to go on," feeling her face starting to warm up, unaware that she was that obvious. Yet then watched as he pulled out three cards from his suitcase that rested by his chair, showing the young teen the back of the cards, "but do you know why even though the Chief's attack points are stronger then the rest of the Gravekeepers, with Necrovalley on the field the Assailant can defeat the Chief with her special ability?"

Revealing the two out of three cards to the Duel City student to be an Assailant and a Chief card; still hiding that mysterious third card as she has wondered that herself for some time; ever since she got the Assailant for her first card. "No, why is that?"

"It is because if someone uses this card," revealing her the third card he held up, being a card that no self respecting duelist of the Gravekeepers would ever place in their deck; the Change of Hearts spell card, "it is because that an Assailant not only protects the Chief from others, but if the Chief is being pulled against his will to endanger his own members; an Assailant has the power to stop him."

Pulling out her own deck, she looked at the bottom card being that first Assailant she ever got; seeing how it wasn't only the duty of an Assailant to defend the Chief, but to stop him as well if changed or was corrupted. "I think I understand, thank you Ch… I mean Mr. Grave."

* * *

Amazing how the mind works, almost like going into another dimension while in thought with that memory seemingly taking minutes where it was only a few seconds in the real world. "Assailant 1," the Head Chief's words snapped her out of that train of thought, "hand me my deck so I can have it shuffled."

"Oh yes, sorry my Chief," but before handing off his deck to him, she secretly slipped an extra card right in the middle; knowing if this didn't bring him back… nothing would.

Walking over to the hyper duelist of Duel Academy, they exchanged decks to shuffle them in their own unique way. However, while they shuffled, Jaden made this statement. "How about we put a wager on this match?"

The audience of Gravekeeper members couldn't help but laugh, making a bet with the Head Chief was practically a suicide mission. "Well as a Chief I am duty-bound to listen to your request. What is your wager, Mr. Yuki?" using the memories from the last match they had, this game was in the bag for the Head Chief of the Gravekeeper's Organization.

"If I win, you can't go through with your plans to take over Kaiba Corp. and your gang leaves Duel Academy once and for all," Jaden stated, only giving that nothing-could-go-wrong smile that stretched from ear-to-ear.

An uproar of questions and insults at the Hero Duelist filled the stadium; yet quickly silenced when the Head Chief raised his hand. "I will accept your wager; but if you are to lose you will be kicked out of this school, banned from any other dueling establishment and forbidden to ever pick up another duel monster card for as long as you live."

Whispering filled the audience; David was smirking a sadistic smile where Jaden nodded without a second thought. "Sounds fair," handing over the Head Chief's deck, "let's make this a duel for the history books."

"Sure, why not," David agreed, already feeling one-hundred present sure that after this match, this pain will be gone and Kaiba Corp. will be under the Gravekeepers control.

To Be Continued

The last match is about to begin; will the corrupted Chief be victorious or will the underdog of Duel Academy turn the tides. Sorry for the long wait but the final duel is about to begin, read and review.

As you can probably tell from my writing I do not like Power Duelists or Jaden; it is always a pain to see someone that doesn't even put on an act at least that he is doing any work looked up to because he gets lucky in a few draws. Also my hatred in Power Duelist shows that anyone with enough money can make an indestructible deck; it is so boring to face in a duel and doesn't seem even worth challenging. I kind of see people who do make Power Decks are the ones that make other people see this challenging game as a joke.


	33. Sorry Fans

Attention fans of this fanfic. I am sorry to say I have lost interest in writing this fanfic. It is because I believe there are just too many mistakes on my part in which I would have to completely rewrite the story from scratch. So to all my loyal fans, here is the summary of what I had planned to happen if I continued writing this story.

I was going to have it where David and Jaden had their duel, where David was using nothing but power cards and strong cards, and using none of the Gravekeeper cards. The card that Kimberly added to his deck was Gravekeeper's Chief, a card that would have been the Evil David's downfall as it causes the true David to fight back, and the fact that in the Evil David's had was nothing but sacrifice monsters, leaving him completely open for Jaden's final attack. The Light was forced from David's body and stated he wasn't going to keep his word, telling him that with the Gravekeeper's Organization he had more than enough power.

This causes all of the Gravekeeper's to turn their backs to the Light, as a Chief's word is supposed to be their Law. With that, Jaden finishes the battle, destroying the Light.

While simultaneously there was going to be a large battle, where the Gravekeepers developed a device that could make their cards real for the fight. Reality used his ability to do the same as well as show off Edgar's 100% form, being a smaller version of the Red Eyes Black Dragon but with tremendous power.

After all of the action, I was going to have the schools finally leaving back to their regular schools. Edgar stating his heartfelt goodbyes to his girlfriend, David groaning from how his friend is acting comments to Syrus he wishes to say goodbye, but warn him never to come to Duel City for his own safety. Syrus replied by telling that Alexis and him wanted some alone time.

Where I shoot over to them, about to begin a duel against one another to decide who gets to pay for the dinner for their date.

However, I finish it up with a mysterious man hidden in the shadows, commenting on how his last two attempts at the school had failed. But knows this time he will succeed as he looks over at the Eye of Yubel in a large cylinder tank. This being a way to have you the readers believes that all of the incidences have been orcastrated by one man.

And that's how I was going to end the story. I apologize once again for not being able to finish this story properly.


End file.
